Instincts
by Nessarie
Summary: Jim falls prey to his new instincts, and he and Claire make a thrilling but dangerous decision. Gunmar and Morgana may be gone, but unexpected threats lie in wait as they make their way across country. Post-Season 3.
1. Chapter One

_Rating: M | Multi-Chapter | Paced Publishing_

 _I love this series beyond comprehension, and while I never would have guessed the twist ending, I am not disappointed in it at all. Far from it, it gives the perfect imaginative twist that leaves me wanting to know more. This is my take._

 **Instincts**

 _ **Chapter One**_

Two weeks, maybe three. Possibly three and a half weeks, he honestly wasn't sure anymore. Time was lost with space and space wasn't coming fast enough.

Trolls were massively strong warriors, capable of demolishing whole buildings like living wrecking balls… but they were also huge, clumsy, and so set in their ways that travel took forever. Add in one cantankerous old wizard, the majority of the group's inability to travel during the daylight hours, and the necessary needs of one uncomplaining human female, and Jim was not surprised that their ragtag group had only just crossed the California/Nevada border in the dusky, gray light of early dawn that morning.

Getting his whole pack safely from Southern California to New Jersey was starting to look like an impossible feat. Or – at the very least – an extremely long, hot, and exhausting feat. All the same, they had been relieved to cross the border as it marked some form of progress. Progress that – despite Glug's constant whining about not having any… well, Glug; despite Dictatious's groveling and shuffling along blindly; despite Bagdwella's screechy, 'better than thou' voice complaining at every opportunity – they had actually gotten a teeny, tiny bit closer to their goal.

The sense of victory only lasted so long, as the sun had risen closer to the horizon and the landscape became thinner, starting to give way to desert. There had been a moment of slight panic at the lack of shelter, but Claire's confident, soft voice had gently reminded everyone that they had been carefully following along the surface of a carven system for a reason. There hadn't been an urgent need of the system's use before then, coverage during the day easy to find as they had travelled through the forests and mountains. Thankfully, Blinky had been quick to pull out his horngazel and create a portal through the ground to the caverns below, and they had all made it safely inside just before the sunlight reached the area where they had been congregated.

The cavern system was huge, going further in all directions than Jim — even with his now-enhanced eyesight — could see. Claire had clung to him, blind in the complete darkness, until glowing crystals had been brought out by their troll owners. The air was chilly and smelled damp, but clean, and there was an underground river flowing clear, cool, and gentle through the middle of the room that they had found themselves in.

The sight was so welcome and his pack was so tired and grumpy that it was discussed and decided that they would stay put for a couple of days to recuperate before returning to the surface to begin traveling again. They were all reluctant to travel _through_ the caverns, given the inability to judge the layout. Cave-ins and shifting rocks were always possible, not to mention that — while their current area seemed safe — there was no telling what could be lurking further out. Jim would be damned if he was going to risk dragging his pack and mate through a Nyarlagroth nest or the like.

Jim sighed and opened his eyes, shaking himself free from his thoughts. Despite his initial freak out over his new form, it hadn't taken him long to accept and adjust to the changes. Merlin finally being able to finagle his magic into getting the Amulet to release was a big help too. Even a troll, let alone a troll/human hybrid, could only go so long without a bathroom break.

But there were times when his new trollish traits clashed with his existing human traits; or, in this case, they had decided to combine forces and give him a mental breakdown. With the change had come a more animalistic nature to both his mind and instincts. He could see further in both light and dark, he could hear better, and he could smell practically everything — and, therein lay the problem.

Jim had noticed fairly quickly that his now-enhanced sense of smell was his strongest new ability. He could smell the mould on the wall, the calcium in the rocks, the minerals in the water, the type of wood that they had used to make a fire, the Argyle socks that NotEnrique had carefully tucked away in Claire's pack, and Claire...

Claire's scent was primary in his brain, like she was permanently tattooed into his senses. She had told him that he was still 'Jim' on the inside... but that wasn't really true. At least, he wasn't the same 'Jim' as he had been. He had loved Claire beyond comprehension before, but now it was... more. She was _his_ , and he was _hers_. He had no other way to describe the feeling; it was possessive, without actually _being_ possessive. He needed her, but was not jealous or angry if she happened to be out of his sight or speaking with someone else. If there was a threat, his first instinct was to protect her before anyone else, though he knew that his sorceress could defend herself more than well enough.

Jim had struggled with reconciling these feelings with what he had known as a human, but everything was far too intense. The love for her was still there, and while he had been physically attracted to her before, it was controllable; but this…

Jim huffed out a heavy breath through his nose, a slight growl rising in his chest as he slammed his fists down on his thighs. The cool water that he was submerged waist deep in splashed loudly, and he lifted his hands to grip at his horns anxiously instead, squeezing his eyes shut once more.

It was taking every ounce of mental strength he could find to stay as far away from Claire as possible right now. Thankfully, she was asleep for the day, curled up in their sleeping bag. Normally, he would be sleeping next to her, but… He refused to go too far, unable to suppress the instinct to keep her within enough of his range that he could come to her aid in a heartbeat if danger arose, but there were… _other_ instincts that were vying for his attention — or, specifically, Claire's attention.

"Stop it, stop it, _stop it_ ," Jim muttered angrily to himself, yanking almost desperately on his horns. He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself—

" _Fuck_ ," Jim exclaimed under his breath as Claire's scent floated strongly in the air, and he could literally taste the pheromones her body was exuding.

"Mi amor? What are you doing all the way over here?"

Jim snapped his eyes open, immediately catching sight of his mate — _Merlin's Beard, Jim, do NOT say that word to her_ — standing ankle deep on the edge of the river that ran through the cavern. He was a fair distance from camp, the glow of the fire barely visible beyond a mound of fallen rocks, well out of sight, so he wasn't quite sure how she had found him, but he was less worried about that than the fact that she was _right there_. In one of his old t-shirts, and nothing else, except — presumably — her underwear.

"Cl-Claire," he stuttered, his body reacting immediately to her very delicious scent, and even better tasting presence. He was wearing cargo pants and it was dark, but the water was clear, and he could only pray that she didn't come any closer. But, damn it, he wanted her closer, he wanted _her_ , he wanted—

Jim shook his head roughly, huffing out a harsh breath in an attempt to expel her essence from his senses. "S-sorry, I just…"

The water sloshed as she trudged toward him through the river, and he wanted to run, but his body refused to listen. Instead, it reacted more strongly, and he could smell his own pheromones in the air now, mixing with hers, and he nearly wept with desire. Jim's hands released their hold on his horns and immediately reached for her own hands as she sat on her knees in front of him, the water coming up to just under her breasts, causing the t-shirt to float around her in the lazy current. He could see her nipples poking at the fabric of the shirt, tightening with the cool sensation of the river.

If she noticed the tremor in his hands or his harsh breathing, she didn't point it out. Instead, she pulled one of her hands from his, lifting it to caress his cheek. Jim couldn't help but lean into her touch, a whine of desire rising from his chest.

"Tell me," Claire implored, her eyes soft, concerned, loving.

"I— you—" he growled in frustration, wanting to explain himself to her, but not wanting to worry or offend her either. She waited patiently and finally — finally! — he was able to blurt the words out, if not quite as eloquently as would have liked. "You smell amazing."

To her credit, Claire didn't seem to become offended, nor did she laugh at his awkward confession. She cocked her head to the side a little, her voice innocently curious, but patient. "How so?"

"Your scent is always changing," he attempted to explain, watching her carefully for a negative reaction, all the while mentally waging war against his animal-like instincts. "But it's… different… stronger now."

Claire was silent for a minute, but her expression was neutral, simply processing what he was trying to tell her. Finally, she met his gaze again, her cheeks a tinge pink. "It's always changing… because I'm a female, right?"

Jim gulped, nodding hesitantly.

"And… I smell stronger to you, right now?" Again, he nodded, and — to his surprise — she smiled gently up at him. "Jim… am I, you know, _receptive_ right now?"

He wondered if his face became a darker shade of blue in reaction to his embarrassment and shame. He looked away from her, closing his eyes as he nodded his confirmation of her assumption. He heard the water slosh around them before he felt Claire move.

"Claire!" Jim gasped in outraged shock as she slid into his lap, wrapping her legs around his waist to hook together behind his back. His hands automatically went to her waist, wanting to push her away, but only pulling her closer. Claire's scent was even stronger, her pheromones doubling in an instant. She was aroused. She ground her body into his, leaving no doubt in his mind as to whether or not she could feel him.

"Oh!" Claire laughed quietly and grabbed onto his shoulders as he instinctively jerked his hips forward and she bounced in his lap. The movement jarred his barely healed chest wound, and he gasped a labored breath, wincing in a combination of pain and pleasure.

Immediately, she calmed, her hands moving from his shoulders to his bare chest, caressing the recently sealed wound above his heart. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

Jim couldn't help but wheeze out a slight laugh. "I'm the who moved, Claire."

She smiled and leaned forward, his breath catching in his throat as she placed a gentle kiss to the wound. "I was teasing you."

She was still becoming increasingly tempting, but he was slightly more relaxed now that she knew and wasn't disgusted or freaked out. In fact, she was _anything_ but disgusted, if he could trust his nose, which he did without question. The pain had been sharp, but brief, and did nothing to discourage his body's reaction to his mate. He had realized fairly quickly what the changes in her scent were all about, but he had never anticipated her fertile time to be _so_ strong. Nor had he anticipated her more than favorable reaction to that information; Jim half wondered if maybe his own pheromones were affecting her, just as hers were affecting him.

"M-maybe you should go back to camp," Jim replied, his voice hesitant and shaky. Despite his words, his arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer.

"Maybe I don't want to," was her defiant answer, and then her teeth were pressing into his neck.

 _Riiiiiiiiiiiip_.

The shirt Claire had been wearing was floating in shreds down the river, toward camp, and his arms hitched her body higher up his chest. Her lips found his, their tongues entangling for the deepest kiss they had ever shared. His mouth was wide enough that his teeth were not in the way, though Jim forced himself to resist the urge to reciprocate her love bite. His hands found themselves wandering, one coming up to fist her hair gently, and the other finding purchase on her bare bottom, his hand slipping beneath the fabric of her underwear. She squeaked against his mouth at the sensation, and it was enough of a surprise to jar him back into reality.

"Stop!" Jim gasped, his hands moving to clutch at her waist again, this time successfully pushing her back, despite her resistance.

"Jim, it's okay—"

"No, it's not!" he growled, frustrated. Her breasts — _by Deya, those breasts!_ — were heaving with the heavy breaths she was taking, her scent thick around him. "You don't understand, you don't realize—"

"That I'll get pregnant?"

Okay, so she did understand. Claire's acceptance didn't make his resistance any easier. He knew his own body, changes and all, well enough by now to know that he really _wasn't_ that much different from his human self, at least structurally. He'd grown taller, his chest broader, and his head had obviously been the biggest change. From the waist down, however, he had remained roughly the same; his legs had become strengthened, his muscles thicker, but he was still the size of an average adult human. If he still bled red blood, then it stood to reason… Well, he'd been kind of busy in the last few weeks to test that theory, but Jim was fairly certain of the answer.

"I…" Jim trailed off, his heart pounding in his chest beneath her fingertips. He swallowed roughly, nervously catching sight of her soft smile. "I'm… human enough… for that."

"Jim," Claire said, lifting her hands to caress his face, and his own hands loosened on her waist enough for her to slide her body against his again. "You do realize that when our parents gave us permission to go off together, they were basically giving their permission for us to elope?"

"The thought had crossed my mind," he admitted shyly, and her smile widened.

"So…" Claire's voice was quiet and mischievous, her expression sly as she ran her hands lightly down his chest. "If we're married, doesn't that include all of… _this_?"

The squeak he let out as she gripped him firmly through his baggy pants was far from manly. Despite the exquisite pleasure of her movements, what she was telling him without actually saying the words kept him frozen in shock. With the whole flour sack baby ordeal, while they had completely and utterly failed, they were admittedly less caring of a fake child than they would be with a real one (they had both been ready to — and nearly did — die in order to save Enrique's life, after all). Claire was his other half, and they had always spoken openly to each other, and the subject of children had been spoken of between them during that time, but it had always been a "One day…" dream. Since he had changed, he had silently accepted that she wouldn't likely still have that dream. Apparently, he was very wrong.

" _Now_?" he panted through her movements, hands tight on her hips as he resisted the urge to thrust forward.

"Why not?" Claire replied in a deceptively innocent voice. "I thought you said you would make a good father?"

"And _you_ reminded me that I blew up our baby!" Jim laughed, relieved and not surprised that her thoughts were along the same lines as his. Honestly, nothing about their relationship should surprise him anymore.

"She died for the greater good," Claire's expression was solemn, but her voice was amused. All the while, her hand was still moving, and his willpower was crumbling to bits.

"We'll be traveling by foot for _months_ , Claire," Jim warned, not really wanting her to change her mind, but he wanted her to truly realize what it was she was asking for. "You'll be so _vulnerable_."

Claire's non-busy hand shot up to grab at one of his horns, yanking his head down to bring his lips to hers. He relaxed into the kiss, his resistance all but gone, and the whispered words of her response against his lips obliterated it entirely.

"You'll keep us safe."

If anyone at camp heard the splash of the water, or the growl Jim let out, or even Claire's gasping laugh as he swung her up into his arms and ran further back into the recesses of the cave with her, he couldn't bring himself to care.

 _To be continued…_

 _Reviews are greatly appreciated!_


	2. Chapter Two

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

 _The following chapter is rated M, but you won't miss plot, if you decide to skip over it. I'm not one for overly sexualized scenes, so I tried to stay classy about it. I don't use vulgar slang terms for body parts, but I don't get clinical about it either. Enjoy!_

 **Chapter Two**

Claire clung to him, her face pressed into his chest, laughing as the wind whipped against their damp skin with his quick movements. Jim leapt through the air, clutching his mate's body close to his own, as he sought out a refuge for them. His cargos were soaked and heavy, trying to slide down his hips. Luckily, he hadn't been a complete idiot and had thought to bring a pack of extra clothes with him when he had gone to drown his instincts in the coldness of the river.

Not that _that_ had done much good.

It was pitch black now, at least to a human, but Jim could see around him enough to find a decent sized alcove higher up on a cliff. They couldn't see or hear the camp anymore, so they had privacy, and Jim was certain he could scent his way back when they needed to meet back up with the others. Carefully, he set her down onto the smooth, stone floor of the alcove before returning to the entrance to scent for any threats. Thankfully, other than the sounds of a few cave crickets further down the ridge, there were no other living things anywhere close to them.

"Jim?" Claire called out, her voice a little nervous. He rushed back to her side in an instant, grasping her reaching hands in his, her eyes wide, but unseeing.

"Sorry," Jim whispered, freeing one of his hands to caress her face as she calmed. "I forgot you can't see. Here, wait—"

Jim kept one of his hands grasped in hers while he reached for his pack with the other, pulling out a Glow Crystal after a bit of fumbling. He gave it a shake to activate it, and a moment later the crystal was illuminating their temporary nest with a soft, blue light. With the Glow Crystal's light, Claire's pale skin seemed like it was exuding moonlight, and Jim was momentarily entranced with the ethereal visage of his sorceress, her breasts heaving with her heavy breaths. As she sat cross legged in front of him, her excruciatingly tempting scent was heavy and dense in the air, nothing but the thin scrap of fabric that were her panties keeping her concealed from him.

"Claire—"

Jim wasn't sure who grabbed who first, but he and Claire were tangled around each other in the millisecond after his gasped utterance of her name, their hands roaming wildly across each other's bodies, their lips trailing hot, wet kisses wherever they could reach. Claire's underwear was flung somewhere off into the back of the alcove and his own remaining clothes were quick to follow. If he ripped any of them, he was in too much pleasure and love to care. The Glow Crystal clattered to the floor as Jim let go of it in order to hitch Claire's naked body higher up against his own.

"J-Jim!" Claire gasped, her hands finding leverage on his horns as he snuffled into her chest, his mouth latching hungrily onto one of her breasts. Her scent spiked again, and he growled in desire against her body, the sensation causing her to moan loudly.

" _God_ , you smell good," Jim growled, releasing her breast with a wet _pop_. His arms wrapped around her waist, lifting her even higher. She was practically standing over him now, but he was the one holding her up while she panted, her grip on his horns still tight.

"No, wait—" Claire attempted to pull his head up by his horns, but he was stronger than her, and he was allowing his instincts to take over. "Let me—"

"I'm fine," he managed to mumble, but she didn't have a chance to respond before his nose was pressed to her dark curls and his tongue was tasting the source of that delicious scent.

Claire squirmed frantically in his arms, but Jim figured by the way she was pulling him closer by his horns that she was not trying to get away. He almost laughed, but her taste and scent were so overwhelming that all he could do was press himself closer, his tongue lapping at her wildly. His four-fingered hand slipped down over her bottom to grasp her thigh and lift it over his shoulder, opening more of her body to his attentions. His hand trailed back up to between her spread legs, and he only hesitated a moment before gently pressing against her entrance with his thumb, forcing his head back to watch as it disappeared into her body.

"Ah!" Claire gasped, jerking back away from him a little, and he halted his movements immediately.

"No?" Jim managed to rasp out, licking his lips as he looked up to meet her eyes.

"C-could you… at the same time?" Claire panted, her face burning red, seemingly unable to meet his eyes.

Jim chuckled, leaning forward to give a teasing lick to her bundle of nerves. "Like that?"

"Y-yeah," she replied, her whole body lurching forward at the sensation.

Jim obliged his mate's request and pressed his tongue back to her body. He wanted to watch his hand and her reaction, but he understood that she likely needed the extra stimulation of his tongue to distract from any discomfort she was feeling. He idly wondered if she realized that he was working on instinct alone, as equally inexperienced as she was. The notion that they would be each other's first and only was a thrilling thought to Jim, and Claire cried out as he growled against her body, doubling his tongue's efforts while gently moving his thumb in and out of her body, holding himself back from moving too quickly by a fraying thread of control.

Suddenly, Claire's legs seemed to seize up, the one tossed over his shoulder squeezing tightly, while the other jerked and trembled as she tried to maintain her balance on the floor by her toes. She gasped frantically and curled her body around his head. He heard an odd clacking and grinding sound, a slight vibrating sensation knocking through the top of his skull, and with an excited jolt south, Jim realized that she was biting down on his horn. He kept his tongue and hand in motion until her whole body jerked and tightened, her voice slightly muffled as she cried out again. When he felt her body tighten around his thumb, he thrust it forward quickly, breaking the skin inside, while continuing to lick and suck on her bundle of nerves. He hoped the pleasure of her orgasm overrode any pain she might have felt from the action. Claire's body spasmed from the sensation, but she moaned his name so sweetly that Jim knew he was pleasing her beyond anything else. As her body relaxed in his arms, practically going limp, he gently licked up the small amount of blood that had seeped from her before she could push his head away.

"I love you," Jim whispered as he allowed her body to slide limply down his own, and she hugged his shoulders lazily, seemingly not bothered by her own taste as she leaned forward and they shared a slow, sloppy kiss. She was hot, sweaty, and her hair was sticking to her forehead and neck, the white streak a stark contrast against her dark brown hair.

"Mi alma gemela," Claire replied against his lips, and he wasn't quite sure what she had said, but knew it must be good with the way she was now insistently pressing her wetness against where he was trapped between their bodies. "Let me…"

Jim grasped her traveling hand and brought it back up to rest against his chest, giving a shy grin at her confused expression. "Unless you've changed your mind, that's probably a bad idea right now."

"Changed my mind?" Claire questioned, cocking her head to the side cutely in confusion.

He huffed a laugh through his nose, and despite his embarrassment, leaned forward to press his forehead to hers. Finally, Jim said the words that had been insinuated at, but had been left directly unsaid.

"You wanted to make a baby, right?"

Claire's face turned red, but her confused expression cleared, and she smiled widely. She lifted her hands to his face and pulled him in for another sloppy kiss, and he laughed joyously against her lips. She began to shift her body off of his, presumably to lie down, but he tightened his arms around her waist, holding her in place.

"Don't tell me you're _that_ sensitive?" Claire laughed lightly, and Jim smirked back at her, amused.

"I might be," he laughed teasingly, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. "You be on top. You can move the way you need to."

Claire gave him a startled look, her cheeks turning red again. "But... don't you want…?"

"Claire," Jim interrupted gently, his five fingered hand leaving her waist to caress her face, tilting her chin up to force her to look at him. "I promise you, there's nothing you could do that isn't going to feel amazing to me."

She smiled back at him, her own hand coming back up to cup his cheek as well, but she seemed embarrassed about something. "I might not… um… I mean, the first time…"

Jim smirked and leant his head closer to Claire's, giving a couple of quick licks to the underside of her jaw. He could feel the goosebumps rising on her skin as he replied softly, "I can help with that."

Her only response was to wrap her arms around his shoulders and press her mouth and tongue to his again. Jim obliged, falling into the heavy kiss, their mouths moving to other places, and he couldn't find an ounce of regret for the hickeys he knew he was marking her with. In the midst of this, she shifted in his lap again, leaning up on her knees as she straddled him. The movement brought her breasts level with his mouth, and he latched on again, licking and sucking hungrily.

His attention, however, didn't last long and her breast dropped from Jim's mouth, a strangled moan combined with a growl forcing itself from his chest. Claire's sneaky hand had grasped him lightly to line him up with her own body, and she was sinking down on him, hot and wet and — _oh, Merlin, this is gonna be over quick_ — so, so tight. Instinctively, his hips thrust up, pressing himself deeper into her body, and she gave a short yelp, her hands scrambling to grab his scruff.

Jim flung his hands away from Claire's hips to dig into the stone floor instead. "Sorry, sorry!"

"No, I…" Claire panted through heavy breaths, and he watched her expression carefully, his body trembling with the effort of keeping still. "It hurts, but… something felt good too, when you moved."

She moved again, sinking down further onto him, and Jim squeezed his eyes closed, his head falling back, a low growl of pleasure reverberating in his chest. She paused again, panting into his chest, pressing her lips to the wound above his heart.

"Thrust again."

"Are you _trying_ to make me lose it?" Jim gasped, laughing breathlessly.

Claire giggled, equally as breathless, her fingers buried in his scruff, tugging in a way that sent chills up and down his spine. He twitched inside of her, and she gave a gasping moan at the sensation. "That _is_ the general idea."

"I won't last," Jim warned her, his hands already moving back to her waist.

"S'okay," Claire replied sweetly.

Claire tightened her fingers in his scruff, and he growled deeply at the sensation. Jim took a long breath in through his nose, taking in her intoxicating scent, and allowed his instincts to surface. In an instant, his hips jerked up again, and then they were pressed together fully, his tip pressed against her cervix. They both gasped and moaned at the sensation, Jim growling loudly at the way her body accepted his.

"Jesus! Oh, Deya—!"," he rasped, thrusting again, unable to resist the pleasure she was giving him. "Are you—?"

"Ah!" Claire cried out with his movements. He tried to pace himself, but couldn't help but thrust erratically, again and again. Claire's head had fallen backward, and she was gasping random words in Spanish and English toward the ceiling. "M'okay, m'okay… don't stop!"

Jim groaned, his movements increasing as she became slicker. Claire suddenly jerked her head up and shot forward, pressing her face into the juncture of his neck and shoulder. Again, she dug her teeth into his thick flesh, and that was all it took.

"Claire!" Jim yelped her name as electricity seemed to rip through his body, and he gripped her hips tightly while he thrust up once more. His stomach clenched, his legs seized, and his whole pelvis ached in pleasurable agony as he spilled over deep inside of his mate's body.

They collapsed together, a gasping, sweaty mess, and he fell backward, his horns knocking against the ground with the movement. Claire's body was limp, her legs trembling, but she remained upright, her hands pressing into his belly to help her keep her balance.

"Good?"

Jim laughed weakly, massaging her thigh with his four fingered hand. "Amazing." He sat up again, hugging her to his chest as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Are you okay?"

Claire laughed, pulling his head down to share a soft kiss, mumbling against his lips, "Amazing, mi alma gemela."

"What is that?" he asked quietly, exhaustion beginning to creep up on him. He never would have thought sex would use so much energy. "You said it before too."

She smiled sweetly and then moved to her knees, their bodies disconnecting. They both shuddered at the sensation, but Jim was the one whose breath was stolen when Claire murmured her translation into his pointed ear.

"My soulmate. My mate."

"Mate?" Jim's heart was pounding again, never imagining that she would use that word. She would have surely heard the trolls using it to refer to their partners, and he knew that Bagdwella often asked Claire "where is your mate?" in reference to himself when she was looking for him to complain about something; however, he had thought that Claire wouldn't want to use that wording, that it was too animalistic.

"Of course," Claire pulled her head back to press her lips to his, licking gently. "Forever."

Jim gave a strangled laugh, repeating the words he had said when he had sealed his fate by breaking the Amulet to find Merlin, though with far more happiness this time. "Forever and ever."

 _To be continued…_

 _Reviews greatly appreciated!_


	3. Chapter Three

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

 **Chapter Three**

Jim and Claire managed to sneak back into camp a couple of hours before nightfall, before everyone would start waking up. They'd set up a makeshift washing line between two stalagmites and hung their wet clothes to dry. He'd brought a change of clothes for himself, but he had obviously not anticipated the events that had followed his trek to the river. Claire took his boxers and shirt to wear, while he had traded his soaked cargos for his baggy sweats.

As they had snuggled together on her sleeping bag, an extra blanket tossed over them, he idly wondered if the others would be able to tell what had happened. They had rinsed off in the river before coming back to camp, but he could still scent their mating. Claire's scent, especially, was still heavily mixed with his own. Jim didn't care if the others knew, but he hoped that they wouldn't embarrass Claire. Jim's thoughts trailed off as he fell deeper into sleep, Claire already dead to the world and snoring softly by his side.

. . .

He was in Troll Market.

Jim recognized the room immediately as the dungeon, with its cages full of gnome skeletons above him, the pit leading to The Deep spanning the middle of the room. He could feel himself being restrained as he kneeled on the cold, stone floor. He looked around frantically only to realize that the Krubera were surrounding him, two of them keeping him from being able to move. He felt weak, like he had when he was human, but he could feel his teeth against his mouth and the horns on his head. Still, he struggled to free himself from the trolls' grasps, but it was like they had petrified him into place. He could scent Claire close, like she was right next to him, but he couldn't see or hear her anywhere.

"What's going on?" Jim shouted, his voice echoing around the chamber. "Claire? Where is she? What have you done?!"

The Krubera remained silent until they began tapping their spears against the ground in the same rhythmic pattern of Gunmar's minions. Terror welled in Jim's chest, expecting the demonic troll to materialize in front of him, but he was surprised when it was Usurna who walked into his line of vision instead. She was holding some kind of package wrapped in cloth in her huge hands.

Jim's terror escalated drastically, though he had never been afraid of Usurna. It was the package she was holding, he realized. For some reason, the idea of it being in her hands scared him more than anything, more than even the terror he had felt when Morgana's death magic was heading straight for Claire. Usurna turned toward the pit and dangled the package over the darkness, the cloth stretching in her grasp.

"No, don't!" Jim screamed, his heart pounding in his throat. "Please! I'll do anything—!"

Usurna let go and the package plummeted into the depths, the cry of an infant echoing after it.

"No!" Jim screamed, springing to his feet in full fight mode. The Amulet had already reacted to his panic and had materialized his armor onto him, Daylight poised and ready to swing.

"Jim!"

"Trollhunter!"

"Master Jim!"

"Is he okay?"

"Good heavens, lad! An old man needs his sleep!"

"Is there an enemy?!"

"Oh, I can't see! What is happening?!"

"What's up, bro?"

"Mi amor?"

Claire. Claire was in front of him, jumping up to grab his horns and yank his head down to her level. Jim blinked, his heart racing, and reality came crashing down on him. He was in the cavern with his pack and mate; they were traveling across country; they had stopped to rest; he was safe; _they_ were safe.

"A nightmare," Jim realized aloud, breathless. He glanced around at the grumbling trolls, some annoyed, some concerned as they watched him. Daylight dissipated from his grasp, the Amulet releasing its power, and he slumped in relief. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, it's quite alright, Master Jim!" Blinky said, coming over to slap him on the back as the others went about their business now that they were assured of their safety. "Why, we've all been through enough to incur a nightmare or two; you, especially!"

"Yeah," Jim sighed, his eyes not leaving Claire's. He noticed that NotEnrique was clinging to her back, looking at him in concern over her shoulder. He also noticed the Changeling's twitching nose and widening eyes. Looking toward Blinky, he attempted a distraction, "Hey, uh… what time is it?"

"Dusk, I believe," Blinky replied, his eyes winking out of sync. "Tonight would be the time to make preparations for our continued journey tomorrow evening. I fear the desert will not be kind to us."

"Jim and I can head to the surface and find a store to get some supplies," Claire said, turning to Blinky while grasping Jim's hands in her own.

"I'll go wichyas," NotEnrique said from Claire's back, his tone good natured, but his eyes narrowed on Jim. The Trollhunter gulped and gave a nervous laugh, hoping that the little monster hadn't brought his frying pan along for the trip.

"A fine plan, indeed!" Blinky exclaimed, pounding one of his fists into the opposite palm. "Perhaps a hundred umbrellas or so?"

Jim laughed, "I don't think we'll be able to find that many."

"We'll figure something out," Claire assured Jim's foster father. "We may have to head in a different direction instead; we'll pick up some topographical maps."

"We must do what needs to be done," Blinky affirmed, handing the horngazel over to Jim. "We patiently await your safe return, Master Jim, Lady Claire, Enrique."

Jim and Claire separated to different parts of the cave to dress, mostly because Jim knew he would be tempted to take her again if she started undressing in front of him; however, it didn't help that NotEnrique wouldn't leave her side. Jim was not looking forward to the Changeling's coming wrath.

Jim had kept his sweats on and pulled a hoodie on over his torso, so he made it back to camp before Claire. He glanced around nervously for NotEnrique, but he was nowhere to be seen. He thought he could hear the Changeling's voice off in the distance, and a sniff in that direction confirmed that NotEnrique had gone with Claire. Jim busied himself with putting together a pack that included their money, phones, a couple bottles of water, and an extra jacket for Claire; he was trying very hard not to twitch his ears in the direction of Claire's and NotEnrique's voices.

Claire, wearing her favorite jeans and t-shirt, walked back into camp just as Jim stood, pack slung over his shoulder. He greeted his mate with a smile and she reciprocated, reaching for his hand with her own. As they linked fingers, Jim met NotEnrique's gaze hesitantly, the little troll still clinging to his sister's back.

NotEnrique glared back. "Don' think we ain't gonna be havin' a chat, Lake."

Claire rolled her eyes and shushed her brother by flicking his nose. "It's not like he jumped me, Enrique."

NotEnrique rubbed his nose, pouting. Jim snickered at the Changeling's petulant look and shook his head.

The sun had just set when they made it back to the surface, the horizon glowing gold in the distance. Both Jim's and Claire's phones began beeping and dinging in their pack, piling up with messages that hadn't been received while they had been underground.

"You'd think we were facing imminent death," Claire laughed, and Jim arched his back so she could reach inside their pack and grab their phones.

"Given our track record, that's entirely possible," Jim replied, smirking as she tossed his phone to him.

NotEnrique jumped from Claire's shoulder to Jim's and bit his ear, growling, "You're gonna be facin' imminent death when Mom an' Dad find out about your fun times."

"Ow! Let go!" Jim swatted lightly at the troll who merely jumped up between his horns and blew a raspberry. "Are you going to tell them?"

NotEnrique giggled, avoiding Jim's swats and jumped back over to Claire, swinging around her waist like a monkey. "Somebody oughtta tell on ya naughty teenagers."

Claire rolled her eyes as they began walking in the direction of a small town a few miles away. "They let us live alone together; I think they can probably guess what we're up to."

Jim shook his head, amused. "How is it that you're the only one who's nosy enough to say anything, anyway? The others didn't seem to care."

"Hah!" NotEnrique scoffed. "Trolls don't know no human scents. I'm a Changelin', remember?" He tapped his nose and then jumped back up onto Jim's shoulder and tapped his own nose as well. "I know human scents. You probably smell 'em better, but I gots no problem tellin' you was all up in my sis!"

"Enrique!" Jim and Claire exclaimed in mortification. NotEnrique just laughed and made himself comfortable in the sling of Jim's hood on his back.

"Well, at least we won't have Blinky breathing down our necks," Jim tried to joke, carefully staring at the ground as they walked, too embarrassed to look up.

He heard Claire giggle and looked up to catch her eye. Her face was red, but her smile was mischievous as he felt the warmth of her hand catch in his much bigger one. "For now."

Jim felt heat pool in his stomach as Claire's scent spiked, and a growl rose out of his chest involuntarily. Without warning, he pounced, scooping Claire up in his arms and began running. Fully aware of NotEnrique clinging to his scruff as he picked up speed, Jim leapt into the air, bouncing from tree to tree, reveling in Claire's excited laughter. The feel of Claire clinging tightly to him, her lips pressed to his neck, the remnant scent of himself from within her, and her own scent of renewing arousal and exuding pheromones made for a potent combination, but Jim was able to control himself. The release of energy brought by running and the sensation of the wind rushing through his hair helped work off some of the building desire. Within minutes, they were within the small city, night having fully fallen. Jim used the dark alleyways and rooftops to navigate their way through town until, finally, he spotted where they needed to go.

"Climb up here with Claire and pull my hood up, Enrique," Jim said over his shoulder, slowing his pace just enough for the Changeling to do as he asked.

"I don't know what breed o' troll ya are, bro," NotEnrique gasped, as he clawed his way over Jim's shoulder to cling to his sister in the safe space between her body and Jim's. "But not all of us enjoy flying fifty miles an hour through the unkno— AH!"

Jim laughed as he picked up speed again, bounding across a few remaining rooftops before landing lithely on the balls of his feet in the dark alley between a shopping center and a Mexican restaurant. He let Claire down from his arms gently, and they both laughed as NotEnrique still clung to Claire's stomach, his eyes squeezed shut.

"We're on the ground, dork," Claire snickered, prying her brother away from her body and putting him down on the ground. The little troll wobbled on his feet for a few seconds, and then scurried off to the dumpsters in the back of the alley.

Jim rolled his eyes, reaching up to make sure his hood was securely covering his horns and most of his face. He then slipped the pack from his shoulder and handed it off to Claire, leaning forward to press his forehead gently to hers. "I'll be on the roof."

She reached up to caress his face, tilting her head enough to press a chaste kiss to his lips. "Any requests?"

"None that are appropriate in public," Jim replied quietly, amusement and desire combining in his voice. Claire gave him a look that didn't make letting go of her any easier, but he managed to reluctantly pry his hands from her waist and push her gently toward the mouth of the alleyway. "Have fun."

"Ah, yes," Claire laughed as she backed out of the darkness and into the light of the sidewalk. "The adventure of a lifetime: shopping at Wal-Mart!"

Jim laughed, keeping eye contact with his mate until she rounded the corner and was out of his sight. He felt a pang of loneliness, though he could still catch her scent easily enough. An ear flick in the opposite direction told him that NotEnrique was still safely rummaging through the dumpsters, and Jim leapt upward, scaling the side of the building in less than a second. Swinging over the ledge, Jim made himself a comfortable spot seated on the corner of the roof, the ledges keeping him hidden from sight. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he couldn't help but snicker at the number of alerts lighting up his screen: 6 missed calls and 12 missed texts from his mother; 5 missed texts from Strickler; 4 missed calls from Mr. Nuñez; 2 missed calls from Mrs. Nuñez; 3 missed texts from Steve and Eli; and 39 missed texts from Toby.

Ignoring the various voicemails, Jim's eyes lingered on Toby's name and the sudden desire to hear his best friend's voice, to tell him everything that had happened struck him like a hot knife to the heart. Automatically, he hit the 'call' button on Toby's contact and pressed the phone to his ear, under his hood. The line rang for all of half a second before his best friend's voice excitedly answered the phone.

"Jimbo! Are you okay? How's Claire? How's Blinky? Where are you now? What—"

"Woah, woah, Tobes," Jim laughed, a heaviness that he hadn't realized was there lifting from his chest. "Everyone is fine. We just crossed into Nevada before dawn this morning. We were underground all day, so no signal."

"Whew!" Toby sighed on the other end of the line, and Jim could hear the tension leave his voice with the exclamation. "That's a relief! I thought for sure you had gotten eaten by a Stalkling."

"I defeat Gunmar and survive, but a Stalkling picks me off?" Jim replied in amusement.

"Good point."

"How are things there?" Jim hadn't heard much in regards to news in the last three weeks, but he would have thought that knowledge of supernatural beings would have travelled across the nation by now; however, there was nothing to indicate that that had happened. "How have you managed to maintain secrecy?"

"What?" Toby asked, confusion in his voice. "Merlin left a spell — didn't he tell you?"

"Merlin keeps to himself," he rolled his eyes, unsurprised at the old wizard's secrecy. "What kind of spell?"

"Not a lot of people actually saw the trolls," Toby replied, his voice muffled as he chewed on something. "I mean, yeah, a bunch of people saw 'em, but it was actually less than fifty. Mrs. Nuñez called a meeting together at town hall to discuss the quote unquote crises, and then when everyone was there, _I_ hit the sprinklers!"

"The sprinklers?"

"Yup! The Memory Distortion spell was in the water. Now everyone just thinks a super rare fire tornado ripped through town."

"Oh," Jim _was_ surprised that Merlin had thought that far ahead. Then again, the old man was always looking out for himself, so it made sense that he would ensure his own security.

"So, what's going on over there?" Toby continued. "Walkin' and talkin'?"

"No," Jim replied, some of his anxiousness returning. "We've stopped for a couple of days to let everyone rest. I took Claire into the nearby town to get some previsions; I'm waiting for her on the roof."

"Ah, enjoying the nightlife!" Toby attempted to joke, and Jim cringed, though he wasn't angry with his best friend.

"I've gotta tell you something," Jim said instead, attempting a distraction and also genuinely wanting to talk to his best friend about everything. Well, probably not in detail, but still… "But you can't tell anyone."

"Sure, dude!" was the excited reply, but Jim shook his head, realizing belatedly that Toby couldn't see the movement.

"No, Toby." The dream came back to him, having lingered in the back of his mind, and Jim had to swallow against the terror rising in his stomach again. "You can't tell _anyone_. Not even AAARRRGGHH!."

"Say _what_?" Toby exclaimed, shock in his voice. "What could be so bad that I can't even tell Wingman?"

"It's not bad," Jim replied, his stomach doing anxious flips as he thought of what he could say. Finally, he blurted quickly, "Claire and I were together."

"Uh, okay?" Toby stated slowly, and Jim could almost picture his best friend twirling a finger around the side of his head. "Did Merlin hit _you_ with some of the Memory Distortion stuff? You and Claire have been dating for, like, ever."

"No, Tobes," Jim almost laughed, but was too nervous to do so. "We were together; as in _together_ together."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, and then Jim had to jerk the phone away from his over sensitive ear as Toby began screaming.

"Oh, my god! Oh, my _god_! You two had _sex_?! Really?! What was it like? No, wait don't tell me. Wait, wait, wait! Was it terrible? No, no, don't tell m— _oh, sweet baby Jesus_! Were you careful? Wait, are you different? Can half-trolls even—"

"Toby!" Jim exclaimed, both amused and embarrassed by Toby's outburst. "Calm down. No, nothing's _different_ ; and, of course, it wasn't terrible."

"Dude," Toby was still clearly in shock. "I mean, _dude_! This is huge news! My baby boy is all growed up!"

"Shut up," Jim rolled his eyes, smirking as he listened to Toby's theatrics. "There's more, but this is the part that you really, _really_ can't tell anyone. Not _anyone_."

"My lips are sealed," Toby swore in a serious voice. Jim sighed, the infant's cry from his dream echoing in his ears. The sound both thrilled and terrified him.

"I don't know yet," Jim started, attempting to build his courage for what he wanted to say. Toby was his best friend, and Jim had always told him everything. "It was only this afternoon, and her scent hasn't really changed significantly enough to—"

"Jim, in human terms, please?"

"…you might be an uncle."

Again, silence.

"Tobes?" The silence stretched on, and Jim's anxiousness returned. "C'mon, Tobes, you're the only one I could tell, and—"

" _Oh, my god, this is the coolest thing ever!_ " Toby finally shouted on the other end of the line, and it wasn't exactly the reaction Jim had been expecting, though he was relieved that Toby wasn't completely spazzing out. "Aw, little quarter-troll babies running around! Little Jims and Claires! And— oooooooh, Deya, her parents are going to kill you."

"Aaaand there goes the bubble," Jim sighed, rolling his eyes and laughing nervously. "I said 'might,' remember? Calm down."

"So, what?" Toby asked, his voice finally calming, although it still held an undercurrent of excitement. "You guys get into some Glug and fall into a drunken night — er, day — of passion?"

"Even as a troll, Glug is still disgusting to me," Jim laughed. "I haven't developed a taste for dirty socks either."

"That _would_ be going too far."

There was a moment of silence where Toby patiently waited for Jim to respond to his original question. He was grateful that Tobes wasn't being pushy, though he knew him well enough to know Toby was dying for answers.

"It sort of..." Jim trailed off, his stomach twisting nervously. "…just happened, I guess. But, not really either."

"You're not making any sense."

"Ugh," Jim groaned, his free hand coming up to grip at his horn. "We were… talking about stuff… and, um… well, 'stuff' included… marriage and sex and babies and then we sort of… just decided to go for it. And we did."

"Um…" Toby laughed awkwardly on the other end. "Soooo… when you say I'm going to be an uncle, you mean that you and Claire _purposefully_ —"

"More or less."

"Woah."

"Yeah."

"Is that… really a good idea?" Toby asked, his excitement finally dying down.

Jim sighed, squeezing his eyes shut and tugged anxiously on his horn. "Yes? I don't know. I don't _regret_ it, but I am worried."

"Maybe nothing will happen?" Toby responded brightly, and Jim cringed.

"Er…" he gave a stressed laugh. "Uh, well, um… yeah, she's probably definitely going to be pregnant."

"Dude," Toby said, his voice deadpan and serious. Despite his goofy nature, Jim knew that his short and pudgy friend was far from stupid. "Do _not_ tell me that you _knew_ that she was ready to—"

"I could tell by her scent," Jim admitted quietly, feeling very much like he was being chastised by a parent and scrambled to explain himself. "But I told her first! She knew too!"

Toby hummed on the other end of the line, the sound unsure. "Well, I guess it only adds truth to the rumors."

"What?" Jim asked, confused. "What rumors?"

"Jimbo," Toby snorted a laugh. "Two teenagers of the opposite sex, who were a well-known couple, drop out of school and skip town without a trace? You can guess what people are saying."

Jim cringed and said, "Is anyone catching any crap for that?"

"Other than some scandalous looks from the gossipy old lady groups, which no one cares about, it's all fine," Toby assured. "Mary, Darci, Steve, Eli, and I are keeping the rumor mill low around town. I mean, yeah, people are gonna think what they want, but we tried to spin it in a romantic light. Told people that you guys eloped… which is kind of the truth, anyway."

Jim sighed, a smile twitching at the corner of his mouth, "I wish we _could_ get married."

"Trolls don't have weddings?"

"It's not that," Jim replied quietly. "Well, actually, I really don't know what trolls do... but I can't marry her by human standards."

"Just because it's not on a piece of paper," Toby began, his voice holding an unusually wise tone, "doesn't mean that it's not real. It always sounded like troll bonds were way stronger than human ones, anyway. It wouldn't hurt to ask Blinky, would it?"

"No, but..." Jim sighed, tugging on his horn again, which he realized was starting to become habit for when he was feeling anxious. "Blinky is like my dad, and by troll standards, 16 is barely a toddler."

"But you're not all troll, and everyone knows that," Toby assured. "You're clearly an adult, despite your actual years alive. No one is going to hold you to one standard or the other. I know you think that you're this thing that's not part of any world, but that's not true."

Jim made a face, his heart wrenching. "Tobes—"

"No, listen to me," Toby interrupted firmly. "You're not _nothing_. You're not stuck in the middle. You're part of _both_ worlds. Two halves in one being; and I know that must be super confusing sometimes, but — if you ask me — it's also pretty cool. How many people can say that they belong to two fantastic worlds?"

Jim laughed, his anxiety easing a bit. "Thanks, Tobes. You always know what to say."

"'Course! You should listen to me more often!"

"That Jim?" Jim heard the muffled voice of AAARRRGGHH! in the background, the sound of a door shutting, and a heavy shuffling.

"Sure thing, Wingman! Wanna talk to him?"

There was some more shuffling, the sound of stone scraping, and then AAARRRGGHH!'s gruff voice was speaking excitedly into the phone. "Brother!"

Jim's anxiety melted away entirely, and a large smile stretched across his lips. "Hey, Big Guy!"

AAARRRGGHH! grunted, his voice raspier than normal. "Miss you and Claire and Blinky."

"We miss you too," Jim's throat tightened in emotion. "We'll have to video chat when we're all together."

"Not with Blinky?"

"No, Claire and I are out..."

For the next half hour, Jim chatted idly with AAARRRGGHH! and Toby. There was a short, but excited interjection from Chompsky, though Jim obviously didn't understand what the little guy was saying. They mostly spoke of how things were going in Arcadia, if there had been any trouble (a few rogue Goblins, which were easily dispatched), and how repair efforts were going. Toby and Darci were 'officially' dating, whatever that meant, and Mary had broken up with Tight Jeans Hank _again_ (and would likely get back together within the month). Jim's mom and Strickler were also 'officially' dating, which Jim really wasn't sure how to feel about. He also wondered briefly how Strickler was faring now that he was stuck in his troll form, though they had left the Glamour Mask with him so he could resume some of his human life. Aja and Krel were acting even weirder than normal, apparently, but Jim took that with a grain of salt; the siblings were so odd that there really was no precedent for 'normal' with them — even Krel had admitted as much once. Douxie was still hanging around, flirting with the girls, much to Toby's annoyance; Jim could only bring himself to laugh about it because Claire was now _not_ the subject of the interloper's attentions.

It was hard to imagine that just a month ago, Jim and Claire were both part of that same world of trivial concerns like school attendance, gossip, and worries of whether or not a date was going well (admittedly, had he been less worried about stupid things like that, he would have noticed Claire's possession much earlier). It felt like a whole lifetime had passed since then. What was the importance of algebra when you faced the possibility of death in battle every day? Who cared what rumors others said and thought, when the people important to you knew the truth? What did it matter if a date was going well when the woman you loved had abandoned everything and everyone she knew to be with _you_?

Speaking of which, Claire's voice rang up to him from the alley below not long after Jim had said his goodbyes to Toby and AAARRRGGHH!, and he leapt up to vault over the roof ledge. Landing in his natural crouch in front of her, he looked up and gave her a toothy grin, breathing in her amazing scent. Claire smiled fondly down at him, leaning forward to press a soft kiss to his lips.

"Find what you needed?" he asked as they pulled back, and he eyed the several bags strung from her forearm.

"Mmhmm," Claire responded, shuffling through her bags to show him a large book of topographical maps. "This was a butt to find. Apparently, no one uses actual maps anymore."

Jim laughed and stood up, and then he was the one looking down at her. "I don't know if I'll ever get used to being this much taller than you."

"It's only about a head, not including your horns," Claire assured, holding her free arm up to show that the height difference wasn't that significant. The top of her head was level with his shoulders, which likely would have happened with time anyway. It was as if he had skipped the rest of puberty overnight… which was, technically speaking, exactly what had happened.

Their short moment was interrupted as NotEnrique scurried back over to them, his arms full of trash goodies. "Found some rusty silverware for ya, bro!"

Jim's stomach growled, and he cringed in embarrassment. "Thanks…"

Thankfully, Claire just laughed, shifting some of her purchases around to provide an empty bag for NotEnrique's finds. "And some moldy socks for yourself, I see. Whew!"

NotEnrique laughed at their disgusted expressions and jumped back up onto Jim's shoulder. The Changeling pulled out a lacy, purple cloth and swung it around his stubby finger. "Aaaaaand some tasty panties! Let's get back and have some breakfast! I'm starvin'!"

"Ugh," Jim cringed away from NotEnrique's treasure, both disgusted and embarrassed. "Do you mind?"

"What?" laughed NotEnrique, sticking his tongue out in Jim's face. "You only like Sis's pant— Hey, not me scruff!"

"Don't be so vulgar!" Claire chastised her brother, her face burning red in clear anger. She shook the little troll by his scruff, and Jim and NotEnrique were both surprised to scent the salt of her tears building. "Teasing is one thing, but don't be gross about it. It was beautiful!"

"Claire…"

"Woah, Sis!" NotEnrique panicked as Claire's tears spilled over. "C'mon, don't with the tears! I hate the tears! I'm sorry, all right?! Aw, c'mon…"

A growl was building in Jim's throat, and he started to fall into his natural crouch again. His scruff raised on the back of his neck, and he bared his teeth; NotEnrique's eyes grew wide as he looked between them. Sighing, he dropped the underwear to the ground and ceased his struggles, tilting his head just enough to expose his throat. Jim instinctively recognized the move as a submissive gesture, though Claire didn't make the connection.

"I wouldn't cry, if you wouldn't be such a jerk!"

"I didn't mean anythin' by i—"

"Police! Drop any weapons and put your hands in the air!"

A brightness lit up the alleyway and Jim growled and automatically jerked his head around toward the threat while Claire and NotEnrique froze in place. There was a tall man standing at the end of the alley, a police car with its lights off parked in the street behind him. The policeman held up a flashlight in their direction in one hand and a gun in the other. The light caught Jim's face, clearly illuminating his trollish features, even though his hood safely covered his horns, and the man gasped and jumped in surprised fright, automatically raising his gun.

Jim reacted immediately, grabbing Claire and NotEnrique up in his arms and made a leap for the roof, but their moment of surprise had cost them valuable time. A deafening _crack!_ rang through the air, echoing off of the alleyway walls. The back of Jim's right shoulder erupted in burning, piercing pain just as he landed on the ledge of the roof. The harsh impact of the bullet caused him to stumble forward, but he was able to turn just in time to protect Claire and NotEnrique from the fall with his body.

"Gah!" Jim grit his teeth against the agony ripping through his shoulder as he landed on his back.

"Jim!" Claire screamed and Jim forced himself to stand again, cradling her and her brother in his arms, though she was scrambling to press her hands against the gunshot wound on his back.

"Stop moving around and keep your head down!" Jim growled, using his chin to force her to tuck her head into his chest.

"That's a lotta blood..." NotEnrique sounded woozy. If his face wasn't already green, Jim would have thought the little guy was about to hurl.

Within seconds, the sounds of sirens were wailing through the air. Despite his panic, Jim willed the Amulet not to react. Not only would he lose his grip on Claire and NotEnrique if his armor started forming, but it would weigh him down. Instead, he focused on making precision leaps from roof to roof, going a different way than the one they had come in from in an effort to get out of the city borders faster. Even when they reached the relative safety of the trees, Jim continued to run. He told himself his harsh breathing was because he was trying to pick up their previous scent, but he couldn't fool Claire, especially when his pace started to become more erratic.

"Jim! Jim, you have to stop!" Claire shouted, struggling in his arms again despite his attempts to keep her tucked against him. She grabbed his face, and it was only when he noticed that her hands were hot, sticky, and coated in his blood that he slowed. "Oh, my god, Jim! Can you find a river or something?"

"We'll get back to camp," Jim attempted to argue, but she wasn't having it.

"James Lake Jr.," Claire ground out in a furious voice. "You stop and let me take care of you right now, or so help me, I will go full sorceress on your ass!"

Knowing that Merlin was in the process of teaching Claire the basics of sorcery, Jim knew the threat was not an empty one and relented.

"There's bottled water and a Glow Crystal in the pack," Jim said as he slowed to a stop and tucked himself and his passengers under the low-growing branches and leaves of a huge magnolia tree. The space was wide and empty on the other side of the leaves, the tree keeping them hidden from view, though it was unlikely that someone would come up on them. He let Claire and NotEnrique down from his arms and moved to sit on one of the branches, suddenly realizing how weak he felt. "Woah..."

"Jim!" Claire dropped her bags and grabbed his face again, and he focused his eyes on hers. "Stay awake, okay? Take off your sweater."

He did as instructed, growling as he felt the pain of the bullet still lodged somewhere near his right shoulder blade. Claire took his sweater from him and used it to press down on the wound to stem the bleeding. Catching sight of the amount of blood on his sweater and on Claire's hands, Jim was sure that he would have had to have a transfusion if he had been human. As it were, he _would_ be able to heal well enough by the next nightfall, but he couldn't heal with the bullet still in there.

"You'll have to dig it out," Jim grunted, his eyes squeezed shut against the pain and he rammed his horns against the tree.

"Dig it out?!" NotEnrique screeched, clinging to Jim's leg. He was surprised to feel the Changeling trembling. "Are ya nuts? We ain't no doctors!"

"It's easy; it's not too deep — just hook and pull," Jim gasped, pulling the Amulet from his pocket and concentrating. He had never summoned only one aspect of his armor before. "You'll have to be be quick, and I can't help."

"What are—?"

Claire's voice cut off, and she gasped as Jim managed to summon his combined Glaives without summoning his remaining armor. He panted with the effort, his head pounding. "I can only hold its form for you for about half a minute—"

"But it's part of Daylight!"

"Claire!" Jim shouted, and it startled her enough that she froze in place. "You can do this. I can't heal with it still in there. You won't be able to hold the Glaives for long, so you have to hurry."

He finally opened his eyes again only to see Claire take a deep breath, seemingly psyching herself up, and then she grabbed the Glaives from his offering hand. Jim growled and rammed his horns back into the tree; he could feel the Glaives' trying to return to him, rejecting the hand of another. He focused singularly on maintaining its form for Claire, and he growled as the pain in his head doubled at the same time that he felt the burning stab of one of the Glaives digging into the wound in his back. Again, he rammed his horns against the tree; ironically, the rhythmic clacking and grinding sounds helped his concentration and distracted him from the pain. He immediately understood Claire's panic over using the Glaives as he felt Daylight burning the flesh it came into contact with. Jim had never considered the possibility of his own armor and weapons being harmful to himself, though he had admittedly never stabbed himself before. He was just as susceptible to Daylight now as any other troll, but he also knew from limited experience that the burn consumed him slower than it did for the others, and his body did not turn to full stone as theirs did. For him, it was more like being splashed with acid that would eat away at his flesh; his skin would heal fine once the exposure was gone.

As if on cue, an excruciating pain shot through his back and Jim automatically arched his spine at the agony of it. He distantly heard a crunching and grinding sound, barely drowned out by his snarl, and then there was a _pop!_ Jim gasped, his concentration breaking; he felt the Glaives dissipate instantly, binding with his soul once again.

"I got it!" Claire shouted and Jim relaxed. He could feel his body already starting to heal, his breath coming easier.

"Jim, you okay?" he heard NotEnrique question, unusual fright in his voice.

"Let's not do that again, yeah?" Jim laughed weakly. His head was still pounding, but it was easing up quickly. He opened his eyes and looked up, spotting Claire standing to his side, pale and looking as equally as weak as he felt. Her hands were dripping with his dark, red blood, and were trembling as she stared down at the lead slug in her hand.

"You were shot…" Claire whispered, her eyes not leaving the bullet. Jim shook off his disorientation and pulled Claire into his lap as she began to wobble on her feet. NotEnrique let go of his leg, and crawled up to his sister's shoulder.

"I'm okay, Claire," Jim reassured her, enclosing her hands in his. They were freezing beneath the stickiness of the blood. "Hey, a little bullet isn't going to kill me."

"It was a human…" Claire mumbled, her eyes wide as she seemed to stare right past him. "A human hurt you…"

Jim and NotEnrique shared a worried look. Claire was not one to fall to pieces, and Jim didn't think he had ever seen her in such a state of shock before. "It's my fault — poor guy probably thought the big, bad monster was going to eat the beautiful lady."

Instead of laughing, like he had hoped, Claire merely let out a strange whining sound from the back of her throat. It sounded like she was trying to hold back a scream and a sob. "I couldn't… I tried to make a portal…"

"Oh, Claire…" Jim sighed, pressing his forehead to hers. It was really the first time that they had been in danger since defeating Morgana. "You don't have to protect m—"

"We protect each other!" Claire finally snapped out of her stupor, her anger clearly returning. Unexpectedly, she ripped her hands from his and slammed her fists down against his chest, and he grunted more in surprise than pain. "There was nothing I could do!"

Jim grabbed her fists in his hands again, holding her still, barely noticing that NotEnrique was gently combing his hands through Claire's hair. "You just dug a bullet out of my back; that's hardly nothing."

"Yeah, Sis!" NotEnrique nuzzled his face lovingly against Claire's cheek. "Yer the only other person who can hold Jimmy Jam's weapons! I'd be a statue right now, if I'd tried!"

"I shouldn't have lost my temper!" Claire exclaimed, her tears spilling over again. She was still staring at the blood on her hands as they were held in his. "He never would have noticed us if I hadn't—"

"Claire, hey!" Jim let go of her hands and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her gently. "It's _not_ your fault! And I'll be fine, you know that! I already feel better."

"I just—" Claire broke off in a sob, flinging herself forward to wrap her body around his, her face pressed into his neck. NotEnrique jumped onto Jim's head, settling between his horns. "It was like seeing you hit with Morgana's magic all over gain, seeing you _die_ , and I couldn't do _anything_."

Jim held his mate close, rubbing her back soothingly. Claire was in no way a damsel in distress; for her to feel utterly helpless, unable to defend herself or those she loved, must have been nothing short of torture. Despite having been injured in battle before, he had never bled to this extent, and he was sure that the amount of blood covering both her and himself was a huge part of her distress as well. He could feel that the bleeding had stopped, however, and that he was already starting to heal. Though he hadn't bled as much then, Morgana's magic had done far more damage to his new body than this stupid, little bullet had.

"What if I had lost you?" Jim heard her whimper into his chest, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed. "I can't—"

"Shhh..."

All Jim could do was hold Claire tight and rock her back and forth as she cried.

 _To be continued…_

 _**REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!**_


	4. Chapter Four

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

 _Thank you to all of my readers and reviewers! I appreciate feedback, so don't be shy about leaving a review or some constructive criticism!_

 **Chapter Four**

"Great grumbly gruesomes!" Blinky exclaimed in shock when Jim, Claire, and NotEnrique finally made it back to camp far later than they should have. Jim looked up tiredly to see his foster father rushing toward them, his six eyes practically bugging out of his head as he took in their bedraggled and bloodied appearances. "What has happened?"

"We're fine," Jim assured, Claire clinging to his side. She kept her eyes downcast, watching their feet; NotEnrique had scurried off as soon as they had passed through the portal. "It's my blood; no one else is hurt."

"Oh, my dear boy!" Jim saw the worry in Blinky's eyes, particularly as he took in Claire's weakened demeanor. Rubbing all four of his hands together anxiously, Blinky continued, "Right… well, you two go on and get cleaned up. We'll speak later."

Jim smiled gratefully at Blinky before guiding Claire toward their little section of camp. Placing her grocery bags down on their sleeping bag, Claire quietly gathered together some clean clothes while he did the same. He watched his mate carefully as she went through her tasks; she had long since stopped crying, but was clearly still disturbed by what had happened. When Jim noticed that she had put the last of her items into their pack, he darted to her side and scooped her up. Claire gasped and flung her arms around his neck, her fingers tangling in his scruff at the sudden action. Jim immediately started running again; within minutes, they were below the cliff where they had nested only a few hours past. The river flowed through here too, and Jim carefully set Claire on her feet, a Glow Crystal already pulled out and activated.

"Hey…"

"I'm sorry for freaking out," Claire said, her eyes still downcast, her voice quiet with a strange inflection.

Jim reached forward to gently cup her face in his hands, tilting her head up to force her to look at him. "There's no reason to apologize, Claire. You're right; we protect each other, and that will never change." He sighed, leaning forward to press a slow, chaste kiss to her lips, relieved when she responded quickly. Pulling back a little, he continued, his lips brushing against hers as he spoke, "but you don't have to put yourself literally in the line of fire to protect me. If you had been—" he broke off, shuddering at the thought, but continued after taking a moment to compose himself. "If you had been the one who was shot, you would have died, and so would I. I can't lose you either. So, if I have to take a bullet or death magic or whatever to keep you safe, then I'm damn well going to do it."

"I know," Claire whispered, bringing one of her hands up to caress the almost healed wound above his heart. "That's what scares me."

"Tell me," Jim implored, realizing with irony that he was repeating the words that she had said to him only a few hours ago.

Claire hesitated, casting her gaze downward again, and she wrapped her arms around herself, her voice shaky as she replied, "It's just… here we are, starting a new life together, starting our own _family_ , and then… if you had died… it scares me how quickly everything went from life to death."

"I will _never_ leave you, Claire," Jim said fiercely, pressing his forehead to hers, nuzzling their noses together. "Gunmar and Morgana are gone. Obviously, there's still danger in the world, but if we can face _those_ two and still come out on top, then I think we definitely have the upper hand. Tonight was just a freak accident."

Claire nuzzled him back, but her arms still tightened around herself protectively. Her voice was thick and breaking as she whispered, "I can't... When you were going to leave... I knew you would never ask me, that you would think that you were doing the right thing by not asking me to leave with you, even though I could see your heart breaking... I told my parents that where you go, I go. I didn't give them a choice, because there _was_ no choice. You're _mine_ ; I won't let you go, and I... I can't do this by myself."

"That's the one thing I would never ask of you," Jim replied, unable to help the small smile that came to his lips when she claimed her ownership of him. He wrapped his arms securely around her and cradled her body against his own, their foreheads pressed together. "We're in this together."

Finally, Jim felt Claire relax, sliding her arms around him in return, and they held each other in silence for a few minutes. Unbidden, the distant memory of his father's face popped into Jim's mind. A young man, barely 24, fair-skinned and black-haired like Jim had been; the man's thin face had sported a scruffy beard, and Jim remembered the way it had tickled and how he had giggled when his father had hugged him that morning, his expression giving nothing away to indicate that it would be the last time that they would see him. He could still remember, with perfect clarity, James's voice cheerfully bidding him a "See ya later, alligator!" as he walked out of the door.

Jim pulled Claire closer, his heart racing. No, of all of the selfish things that he could and did put her through, he would not — _could not_ — ever leave her in the same situation as he and his mother had been left in. Even if that meant cheating death time and again.

Claire breathed a gentle sigh, and Jim could feel the tension slowly start to leave her body. She unwrapped her arms from around him and lifted her hands to cup his face, speaking shyly after a moment. "Will you make love to me?"

And he did; slowly and sweetly, lacking the urgency and desperation of their first time. Their bodies moved together for hours, loving each other several times over, whispered promises shared between them. Though they were hidden in the darkness of the cave, when they finally parted to bathe several hours later, Jim knew that it must have been close to dawn. Despite washing up, they fell together again shortly after, joining once more until both of them were completely exhausted.

Jim and Claire rested on their towels, half asleep and spooned together, her back pressed along the length of his front. Jim tasted the scent of their love with every breath he took. With a sense of surprise, he slowly realized that he _could_ , in fact, detect a minuscule difference in her scent, beneath the scent of himself from within her. It was barely noticeable, but not like anything he had scented from her before, and his heart started pounding, his drowsiness gone in an instant.

"Hey," Jim whispered into his mate's ear, pressing gentle kisses up and down the back of her neck.

"Hmm?" Claire mumbled, tilting her head in his direction, goosebumps rising on her flesh.

Jim's arm had already been wrapped around her, cradling her body to his, and it only took a slight movement for his hand to press gently to her lower belly. "I think I got you on the first try."

Claire's brow furrowed, and she opened her sleepy eyes to look up at him in confusion. "What?"

Jim laughed breathlessly and his hand wandered to grasp hers. Softly, he pressed their hands back to her belly and wiggled his fingers over hers. "Your scent is changing."

Claire's breath caught, her eyes opening wide. Jim could hear her heartbeat increase and could see the way her throat jumped with her pulse. "Already?"

Jim laughed again, happiness bubbling up inside of him, and he leaned over to press his lips to hers passionately. When he pulled back, they were both breathless. "I told you that you were ready."

"Yeah, but…" Claire trailed off and laughed too. "I guess I thought it would take longer, or that I would just _know_ or whatever."

Jim shook his head, giving the underside of her jaw an affectionate lick. "How could you? It will be a couple of weeks before your body starts reacting. If I were still human, I wouldn't know either. I can only tell because your scent is starting to change in a way that I haven't smelled from you before."

"What does it smell like?" she asked curiously, shifting her position to lie on her back as he rested on his side next to her.

"Hmm…" Jim hummed, breathing in deeply and brushing his thumb back and forth across her flat stomach. "Me… and you… and… something spiced? Earthy, like cinnamon or nutmeg."

"So, our baby smells like a pumpkin pie?"

"Hey, it's the best analogy I've got!"

Claire laughed and pushed him onto his back. "Well, I think Pumpkin's daddy and mommy could use some more love."

"Oh, so that's going to be a thing now?" Jim's laughter turned to a sighed moan as his mate crawled over him to join their bodies again. "Mmm… aren't you tired?"

"A little," Claire replied, rocking gently on top of him. He rubbed his hands across her thighs, his eyes drifting closed with the pleasure of her subtle movements. "I think we've got one more in us."

When they arrived back to camp, the trolls were starting to settle down for the day, families huddled together. The few whelps that there were, were being cradled or tucked in by their parents. NotEnrique was huddled in Jim's and Claire's section of camp, his expression anxious. Seeing Blinky pacing on the far side of the cavern, not having spotted them yet, Jim and Claire smiled at each other. Their joined hands unlinked as they walked in different directions; Claire toward her brother, while Jim walked over to his foster father.

"Jim!" Blinky exclaimed, and Jim grunted in surprise as the troll grabbed him up in his four arms, squeezing tightly. "By Deya's grace, where have you been?"

"Washing?" Jim squeaked, laughing nervously.

Blinky released him after one last squeeze, shouting, "For 5 hours?!"

Jim gave his nervous laugh again, his four fingered hand shooting up to yank on his horn. He averted his eyes from Blinky's six that were staring him down, asking instead, "Do… do, uh… do trolls get married?"

"Married?" Blinky's voice was bewildered, and Jim glanced up to see his eyes blinking in confusion. "Well, yes, of course; although, our marriages are far more binding than human ones. We are, after all, very long-lived creatures."

"What happens?" Jim queried, forcing his hand to leave his horn. He tried to tell himself that there was no need to be nervous, but while part of him accepted that, there was still some lingering butterflies in his stomach. "I mean… how does it go? Do you have weddings?"

Blinky was silent for a moment, watching Jim carefully. His foster father may have been somewhat oblivious to the details of human customs, but he was far from unintelligent. "My boy… do you wish to bond in marriage to our Fair Lady Claire?"

Jim's face burned, and he glanced away from Blinky again, embarrassed and nervous. Unable to bring himself to speak, he merely nodded. After a few seconds of silence, Jim jerked his head up in surprise as Blinky gripped his shoulders with his two upper arms, a wide smile spreading across his grayish-blue face.

"Why, this is wonderful news!"

Jim blinked, completely surprised. "It is?"

"Yes, indeed!" Blinky laughed, pulling Jim into another tight hug. "My son, why on Earth do you think I would not be happy for you?"

"Uh…" Jim laughed, hugging Blinky back just as tightly, relief flooding through him. "I just… I thought you would think we were too young."

"Great Gronka Morica! Of course you're too young!" Blinky exclaimed, laughing jovially.

"Wh-what?" Jim snorted a confused laugh, backing away and cocking his head to the side. He stopped himself short of falling into his instinctive crouch.

"Jim," Blinky stated, his voice soft and understanding. "I told you once that your devotion to Claire was obvious. That has not changed; if anything, your devotion — and Claire's — has only grown stronger. As a human, you were undyingly loyal; now that you are part troll, I know that you view Claire as your mate…" Jim opened his mouth to say something, anything to cover up his embarrassment, but Blinky held up a hand to silence him. "…and I know Claire views you in the same light."

"She _is_ my mate," Jim confirmed, his voice soft and shy, but he looked the man he called 'father' in the eyes as he made the declaration.

"And that is why I am overjoyed for you both," Blinky assured with a delighted smile, dragging Jim into yet another hug.

"Thank you," Jim breathed, relieved and excited. "So… what do we do?"

"First order of business," Blinky exclaimed, leaning back with a stern look on his face. "I would very much like to know how you and Claire came back from a shopping trip covered in your blood."

"Ah… ha ha ha…" Jim laughed nervously. "Funny story…"

Jim spent the rest of the day with Blinky, pouring over the topographical maps and planning their next moves. They would have to go out of their way, but it looked like there was a thin mountain and valley region further to the south that they could use to traverse across the desert. They would have to be careful and travel hard, but they could use the shadows, valleys, and canyons to their advantage during the day. Blinky spent an hour or two going over troll marriage rituals and rites, and Jim paid rapt attention to every detail. To Jim's surprise, the magic used in the ritual was not unlike the one Strickler had used to bind Jim's mother's fate to his own; however, Blinky assured Jim that it was also different, in that Jim's and Claire's fates would not be tied in the sense that whatever happened to him would happen to her and vice versa. Though their souls would be bound, if he were to be physically injured, she would not suffer the same injury.

"You will be able to feel and influence each other's emotions," Blinky explained, smiling fondly at Jim as he had fallen into his crouch, listening in childlike fascination. "I have heard that it is quite the experience."

Jim cocked his head curiously as a realization dawned on him. "Have you ever had a mate?"

"Ah, if only!" Blinky chuckled, ruffling Jim's hair playfully. "Sadly — or, perhaps, fortunately — I am a perpetual bachelor."

"Never?" Jim asked softly, his heart wrenching in sadness at the thought of Blinky never experiencing romantic love.

"It is quite alright, my boy," replied his foster father, his smile still bright and toothy. "I have been so very lucky to find such good friends throughout my many centuries, not the least of whom has become such a magnificent son to me."

Jim grinned at the praise, though he was still sad for Blinky. He may have called Jim his son, and Jim was more than glad to take up the title, but it must have been hard on the older troll to leave his oldest and truest friend behind and not even have a mate to find comfort in. Jim didn't know how he would have coped with being forced to leave Toby behind, if he didn't have Claire by his side.

Claire herself slept deeply through the day while Jim was with Blinky, and though he kept an eye (and nose) on her, Jim did not bother her. An hour before dusk, Blinky began rousing the trolls, preparing them for the long night ahead. Jim hugged his father again before parting toward his and Claire's section of camp. She was still fast asleep on her side, tucked under their blanket with NotEnrique curled up on top, by her feet. Jim knelt down by her side and gently grasped her shoulder, breathing in deeply. He grinned as he noted that the new, spiced scent coming from her was stronger.

"Claire," Jim whispered, giving her a light shake. "It's time to get up, Love."

"Hmm… five more minutes," Claire mumbled, not even cracking an eye open.

Jim chuckled and leant forward to give a light nibble to the space behind her ear. "We have to get moving soon. You need to eat something before we go; we'll be traveling pretty hard."

Claire sighed, finally rousing, and sat up with a large yawn. Jim heard her spine popping as she stretched and he laughed, turning toward NotEnrique. The little monster looked fast asleep, but he saw the twitch in the troll's ears.

"Time to start packing, Crib Rat," Jim smirked, lightly flicking NotEnrique's ear.

NotEnrique grunted, cracking open an eye to glare at Jim. "I'm with Sis; five more minutes."

Claire laughed, gathering the imp in her arms. "Why are you complaining? You'll end up riding on someone's back, anyway. The least you can do is help pack."

"Oh, fine. Fleshbags can't do nothin' for themselves," NotEnrique replied in exaggeration, rolling his eyes. He crawled onto Claire's shoulder, and Jim watched as he gave his sister a loving nuzzle before jumping down to start packing away his socks and trash goodies. Jim swiped a couple of forks and a tin can from the pile, scarfing them down quickly while Claire sorted through her own food, grabbing some flatbread and a bottle of orange juice.

"Jim." Jim and Claire turned in surprise as Merlin walked up to them. The wizard was not particularly social, and they were used to him keeping to himself, for the most part. "Might I have a word with you, lad?"

"Uh… sure," Jim said, sharing a confused glance with Claire, who merely shrugged. Jim stood and walked over to the old man, cocking his head curiously. "What's up?"

" _What is up_?" Merlin repeated, furrowing his brow in confusion. "There are many things that are 'up,' my boy. The sky, the stars, the moon—"

Jim rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "No, it's a saying; it means, _what do you want to talk about?_."

"Ah," Merlin mumbled, his confusion clearing. "I see. Curious how things change over the centuries... Anyway, come with me, please."

"Er... now?" Jim glanced nervously back at Claire, the desire to stay by her side almost overwhelming.

"It will only take a moment."

"Fine," Jim relented, following the wizard as he walked toward the river, just outside of camp. They stopped and Merlin turned back toward Jim, holding a closed fist out toward him, and Jim reached forward to take whatever it was that Merlin was offering. "What's this?"

Merlin opened his hand above Jim's outstretched palm and a couple of silver rings fell into his hand. "Blinkous mentioned that you were curious about troll marriages, and I thought you might like to add a little bit of a human element as well."

Jim stared at the rings in shock. They were simple silver bands, each inlaid with subtly glowing crystals of blue and purple. Jim noticed that even the silver seemed to be giving off a slight glow, and he could sense magic coming from them.

"Thank you," Jim breathed, still slightly shocked at the wizard's gesture, and he smirked a little before continuing, "That's surprisingly nice of you."

Merlin grunted, brushing off Jim's gratitude with an arrogant wave of his hand. "Hardly. Such trinkets are easy to make; they are imbued with some basic defensive charms, which will aid you both should you run into any trouble."

"Thank you," Jim repeated fervently, genuinely grateful. He closed his hand around the rings and held them close to his chest. "This really means a lot."

"I am glad to be of help, lad," Merlin said, his expression softening. "I am a selfish and arrogant bastard, I know, but it does bring happiness to this old man to see that love still prevails."

Jim smiled and gave the old man a grateful nod, and Merlin waved him off, walking away toward his own section of camp, while Jim returned to his mate's side, tucking the rings safely away in a pocket of their pack for the time being.

 _To be continued…_

 _**REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED**_


	5. Chapter Five

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

 _The plot thickens…_

 **Chapter Five**

The next two weeks of travel were the hardest part of the trek so far, and they made little headway. The mountains, valleys, and canyons _did_ offer more protection, as they had thought they would, but they were far out of the way and extended the trip by several days. Thankfully, the group was keeping pace, and no one had fallen behind; however, the longer than anticipated travel across the desert was taking its toll on the non-troll members of the group. Trolls didn't need excessive amounts water, and while Jim did not need as much water anymore, he couldn't go forever without it. Merlin's magic was enough to get him through the worst of it; he was run-down, but otherwise fine. Claire, on the other hand, was not faring nearly as well, especially in the last day.

"What can I _do_?" Jim begged his mate, holding her hair out of her face as she heaved up what little contents were in her stomach onto the dusty ground. He pressed his hand to her forehead and let out a distressed whine. Her skin was dry and hot, and he knew that she must have been severely dehydrated. "Claire…"

Claire merely heaved again, retching so hard that her whole body convulsed in on itself. When nothing came up, despite her convulsions, Jim's heart pounded fiercely with terror.

"Yer a wizard!" Jim heard NotEnrique growling behind him, and he glanced back briefly to see Merlin glaring down at the little troll. "Can't ya cast a spell or somethin'?!"

"I am, indeed, a wizard, little imp," Merlin replied, his voice dismissive. Jim had to swallow against the growl building in his chest. "I am _not_ a healer."

"Surely, there must be something you can do, Merlin?" Blinky's voice questioned in concern. Claire heaved again and Jim leaned into her, nuzzling her neck in worry. "The poor girl cannot go on like this."

"She needs water," Merlin replied calmly.

"She can't keep it down!" Jim growled over his shoulder. The old man may have had his moments of compassion, but they were few and far between.

"Then she needs something to ease her nausea first," was the bored response.

"You gotta a spell or potion or somethin' for that?"

"I told you: I am _not_ a healer!"

"My boy," Blinky came to Jim's side, placing one of his hands on his head, between his horns, and another hand gently rubbed Claire's back as she continued to retch. Jim looked up at his father, scared. "Perhaps you should call your mother and ask for her expertise?"

Jim glanced away, toward Claire's red face, and he let out a shaky sigh. He leant down to nuzzle her neck in worry again. "Claire…? I don't know what else to do."

Claire gasped for breath, turning her head to offer him a weak nuzzle in return. "O-okay."

Jim pressed his lips to her burning forehead before standing. NotEnrique took his place, holding Claire's hair back for her and Blinky rubbed her back soothingly. Jim looked up, gauging the position of the setting sun. With an anxious growl, he scaled the walls of the canyon that they were in, staying in the shade. He couldn't make it to the top because of the sun, but he managed to get close enough that his phone could pick up a decent signal. Heart pounding, Jim settled himself down on a thin ledge and attempted to find his mother's contact button. His hands were shaking so bad that it took him three tries before he managed it.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon…" he mumbled into the receiver, looking down over his pack in the valley below as the phone rang. His eyes found Claire off to the side, still on her hands and knees, heaving. "Pick up, Mom…"

"Ah, Young Atlas! How is the grand exodus going?"

"Is Mom there?" Jim asked, not bothering with formalities.

"Jim, what's wrong?" Strickler asked, his gruff voice immediately concerned. "I'm afraid your mother was called into the hospital; she left her phone behind."

"I really need to talk to her," Jim growled, his voice cracking in emotion. "Claire is really sick, and we're in the middle of the desert, and we have water, but she can't keep it down, and she's really dehydrated, and I don't know what to do!"

"Jim! Jim, calm yourself," Strickler commanded in a stern voice, and Jim forced himself to take a shaky breath and stop growling. "Good, now stay calm. I'll try to call Barbara at the hospital, and one of us will call you back in a bit, okay?"

"Okay."

The phone beeped as Strickler hung up, and Jim whined anxiously, staring down at the blank screen. This was all his fault. She was sick because he couldn't keep his instincts under control and just _had_ to go and—

 _Stop it, Jim. Everything's going to be fine. Mom'll know what to do_.

Because his mother was a doctor, he wasn't completely horrible when it came to the physical sciences, like Biology and Anatomy. When he was a child, and no one else was available, he had helped her study for her medical exams; that knowledge had stuck with him. He knew, logically, that some women suffered with nausea more severely than others did during pregnancy, but that did not mean that he was used to seeing it. The environment and hard travel had not helped, and when she had started getting sick to her stomach earlier in the day, it had flung her into a vicious cycle. Her nausea was only made worse by the dehydration, and the dehydration was made worse by the vomiting. If only he could get her to hold down some water long enough to—

His phone rang and he answered immediately, not even bothering to look at the caller ID.

"Mom? Mom, Claire is really sick, and—"

"Jim."

Jim's heart lurched in his chest, his stomach turning to ice; it was not his mother's voice on the other end of the line, nor was it Strickler's. Still, he had replayed that voice in his head over and over again for years and would know it anywhere.

"…Dad?"

"H-hey," his father replied in a nervous voice, and Jim sat frozen in shock. "I… I, um… heard about the tornado. I was worried, and I wanted to make sure you were okay, so I Googled your number."

"I'm fine," Jim replied, fury growing inside of him. He bit back the growl rising in his chest. "You've cleared your conscious. You can go back to your own life now, so—"

"J-Jim, don't hang up, please!" Jim remained silent, but didn't hang up. He heard his father sigh on the other end. "Look, I - I know I haven't been the best father—"

"You haven't been a father at all," Jim interrupted, unable to stop the growl that accompanied his words. "And I have more important things to do than—"

"I'm _trying_ here! Give me a chance."

"Now really isn't the best time," he tried to keep his voice calm, despite the combination of anger and worry mixing around inside of him. "Look, if you want to talk, call back lat—"

"H-How is school going?" James interjected, his voice fast and nervous.

"Wh-what?" Jim realized that he and his father seemed to share the same nervous stuttering habit, and it only made him angrier. "Are you _serious_ right now?"

"Yeah," James replied, his voice turning upbeat. "You're uh… you're gonna be heading into Junior year, right? Keeping up your grades? What's your favorite subject? Mine was Lit. You still like to read, right?"

"School?" Jim snorted an incredulous laugh. "You want to know about school?"

"Yeah," his father repeated, clearly — and wrongly — reading his son's laugh as a positive sign. "I'm sure you're brilliant, like your mom. Are you going into medicine too?"

"Dad," Jim scoffed, completely disgusted with the whole conversation. "I'm trying to be nice here, but I don't have time for—"

"Ah, c'mon, indulge your old man!"

"Fine," Jim snapped, his temper taking over his mouth. "Fine. You want to know about school? I dropped out."

"WHAT?!" James shouted, shock and anger echoing through the line. "Why the _hell_ would you do something so stu—"

"I don't expect you to understand the concept of sacrifice," Jim said, his voice deep and cold. His heart pounded harder as his eyes found Claire again, now lying on her side, her head in Blinky's lap. "You do exactly what you want and don't care who it affects. You have no sense of honor and less of a sense of responsibility—"

"Sacrifice? _Sacrifice_?!" James's voice was furious now, the nervous kindness gone. "You're 16! You don't need to _sacrifice_ anything! Let me talk to your mother—"

"Mom understands," stated Jim firmly. "And she's not here. I don't live at home anymore."

"Jesus Christ, James!" his father shouted so loud that Jim thought he saw some of the trolls look up in his direction from the ground. "Of all the stupid, idiotic, irresponsible—"

"Like I said, I don't expect you to understand," Jim spoke over his father's rant. "By the way, this isn't the reason I dropped out of school and left, but I guess you should know that you're going to be a grandfather, at least biologically. Congrats."

"WHA—"

Jim hung up before he could hear his father's infuriated response, snarling in anger. He shook his head, huffing through his nose, and resisted the urge to ram his horns into the wall. Looking down at his phone again, it did not indicate that any other calls or texts had tried to come through, and an anxious whine rose up in his chest.

Suddenly, Jim felt a surge of magic power from below, and he gasped in terror as the canyon walls lit up with a blinding green light. His armor materialized instantly as he leapt down, Daylight swung high as he landed in a hard crouch on the ground and immediately charged toward the source of the power and light with a snarled war cry.

"Whoa there, Young Atlas!"

Jim skidded to a halt in shock as Strickler flung himself in front of the blade, his arms and wings spread wide. Behind the Changeling, a flash of red hair and green scrubs caught Jim's eyes, and then his mother was pushing Strickler's wing down to greet her son.

"How did you—"

"I fetched them," Merlin stated, walking into Jim's incredulous line of vision.

"By Deya's grace!" Blinky exclaimed from somewhere behind Jim. "You can make portals?"

"Of course."

"Then _why_ are we in the middle of the desert?!"

"Because, Blinkous," Merlin replied in an annoyed and arrogant voice. "I can only make portals to places where I've been. Aside from our little road trip, the only other place that I've been on this new continent of yours, is Arcadia."

Jim growled, but he forced his armor to dissipate. Strickler relaxed his defensive stance, and his mother rushed forward to pull her son into a tight hug. Jim noted that she had a heavy medical bag slung across her chest. The sound of retching made Jim push his mother back gently. Thankfully, Barbara nodded understandingly and her gaze broke from his to look over at Claire, who was back to her hands and knees, her body half curled in on itself as she gagged and heaved.

"Oh, Claire, honey!" Barbara rushed forward to crouch by Claire's side, pressing her fingers to his mate's neck. "Pulse is thready. Honey, I'm going to start an IV, okay?"

"Jim."

Jim turned back toward Strickler as the older man gripped his shoulder firmly. His nose was twitching and his expression was stern, and Jim cursed under his breath.

"I know, okay?" Jim replied, a mix of emotions causing another whine to rise in his chest. "You can lecture me later."

Strickler sighed and shook his head in amusement, and he gave Jim's shoulder a light squeeze before letting go. Jim went to his mate's side and sat on the ground, pulling Claire into his lap as his mother prepared an IV. Claire was panting, her throat jumping erratically as she rested against his chest, her body limp. He pressed a worried kiss to her forehead, nuzzling her in concern, and it made him feel slightly better when she mustered up enough strength to nuzzle him back weakly.

"You're going to be okay," Jim whispered into her hair, watching anxiously as his mother took Claire's arm and expertly inserted the needle into the underside of her forearm.

"Pumpkin?" Claire said, her voice so soft that he barely heard it. She licked her dry and cracked lips and managed to crack her eyes open to look up at him.

Jim's heart lurched, a combination of a laugh and whine wrenching itself from his throat at the nickname that Claire refused to stop using. "I don't know."

Everything about Claire's being was weak, her scent included. He could still pick up the spiced scent of his newly conceived child, but it was incredibly weak. Claire was so sick, and while the thought made _him_ feel sick, he prayed that if she lost the baby, it would be quickly and without pain.

Barbara pulled a collapsable IV stand from her bag and quickly set it up, hanging a bag of saline from one of the hooks. The trolls were looking on curiously, never having seen human medicine practices, and Jim could hear a whelp ask its parent, "Why is the human putting a vine in Lady Claire's arm?"

"Hush, now, Nyrys," the parent replied, and Jim glanced up briefly to see Nyrys, a purple little boulder with floppy ears and bright orange hair that stuck up at weird angles, little nubs on either side of her forehead for horns, inching forward curiously. She looked slightly terrified and very concerned.

"Lady Claire will be okay, Nyrys," Jim assured the whelp, forcing his voice to remain calm. "This is human medicine for her."

Nyrys seemed to take his response as permission to come forward and darted toward them before her mother could grab her. The little troll was only slightly bigger than NotEnrique, and she latched onto his arm and clung to him as she gazed at Claire with wide, golden eyes. "Lady Claire? Why are you sick?"

"She probably just ate something that had gone bad," Barbara said, smiling at the child's concern while taking Claire's pulse again. "Humans don't have strong stomachs like trolls do. Some things that _you_ can eat will make _us_ sick, if we eat them."

"But Master Jim takes care of her," Nyrys said, and Jim would have laughed at the child's defense of him if he wasn't so worried. "He makes sure she has water and human food, and he makes her laugh. Mommy says Master Jim is a really good mate to Lady Claire."

Jim cringed as he watched his mother freeze, her gaze slowly shifting from Nyrys to meet his own eyes in shock. "Mate?"

"He's a wonderful mate," Claire's voice spoke up, a little stronger than before, and Jim sighed in relief. He gently nuzzled her neck and watched as her eyes opened weakly and she nuzzled him back. "I feel a little better."

"That's good," Barbara replied, glancing up at the saline bag. "You've already gone through half the bag; you're severely dehydrated, which is why you're so sick to your stomach, dear."

Claire's eyes lifted to his, and he read her look with a nervous twist to his stomach. It was more that he didn't want to face his mother's ire than that he was ashamed of what they had done. Jim was proud to call Claire his mate, and he was proud of the life that they had created together, but his mother was… well, she was his mother, and he was still a kid to her.

Jim cradled Claire closer to himself as he braced himself for his mother's response. "She, uh… might be sick to her stomach for a few weeks."

Barbara furrowed her brow and reached forward to press her hand to Claire's forehead. "She doesn't have a fever. Did you eat some troll food, honey? Maybe it doesn't agree with you."

Jim's stomach did a flip; Blinky was looking on curiously too, as were Merlin and the rest of the trolls. NotEnrique was sitting on Jim's leg, holding one of Claire's hands between his own, also looking up at Jim quizzically. Finally, Jim gathered his courage, his hand drifting protectively over Claire's stomach, and he stated firmly, "Claire's pregnant."

"Goodness, that sounds like a horrible disease!" Blinky exclaimed, completely oblivious. "Is there a cure?"

Strickler and NotEnrique burst out laughing, and Jim even heard Nomura cackling off to the side somewhere. He couldn't look away from his mother, though, as she sat stock still, her back rigid as she stared at his hand covering Claire's belly.

"It ain't a disease, Blink!" NotEnrique laughed, letting go of his sister's hand to jump up on top of Jim's head, settling between his horns. "'Pregnant' is what humans call it when a woman's carryin' a whelp! Jimmy Jam here put a baby in Sis!"

Jim cringed and rolled his eyes up at the imp on his head. "Really? That's the best way you could put it?"

"Lady Claire is going to have a baby?" Nyrys, still clinging to Jim's arm, asked excitedly. "Will it be human, like you used to be? Or a troll, like me?"

"Come along, Nyrys," Nyrys's mother came forward to grab her whelp and pull her away. "Let Lady Claire rest."

Jim watched with slight amusement as Nyrys was dragged off into the crowd of onlookers, a sour expression on her face. Suddenly, he felt small hands trying to move his own hand away from Claire's stomach, and he automatically growled and bared his teeth, his eyes snapping back around only to find his mother staring him down with an unreadable expression. She tugged on his hand again, and he swallowed the growl and reluctantly moved his hand away. Jim nuzzled Claire's cheek, watching as his mother felt around his mate's lower belly with gentle hands. Claire sighed against his chest, and he could feel the sweat building up on the back of her neck, her body attempting to cool itself now that she was getting some fluids.

"I would guess about two weeks," Barbara said after a moment, her voice soft and professional. Jim and Claire glanced at each other, not sure how to interpret his mother's tone of voice. "You're starting to harden, but you're still relatively soft. I'd like to examine you after you've gotten some more fluids, okay?"

"Okay," Claire whispered her consent, her eyes fluttering. Jim's ears picked up her heartbeat increasing just before she lurched forward and retched again, only bringing up bile. Jim whimpered, gathering her hair back up off of her neck, while stabilizing her arm so she didn't rip the IV out.

"Shhh..." Barbara reached up to briefly brush one of her hands across Claire's cheek. To Jim's surprise, he felt his mother's other hand cup his face and rub her thumb across his cheek soothingly. He caught her eyes and was shocked to see a soft smile gracing her features, her blue eyes teary. "I have some nausea medicine to put in your IV, Claire. It will make you sleepy."

"Sleep sounds nice," Claire panted as she leaned back against Jim again, her body trembling. Barbara smiled, and Jim watched his mother's movements carefully as she injected the harsh smelling medicine into the port on the side of the IV tube. It only took a few seconds for Claire's body to go completely limp, her head lolling to the side as sleep claimed her, and Jim breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm afraid she's not going to be traveling tonight," Barbara informed the crowd. There were some groans and grumblings, but mostly gossipy whispers as everyone started wandering off. Troll or human, there was always going to be gossip.

"I'm not quite sure what the appropriate response is here," Blinky said into the silence, and Jim shot the six-eyed troll an exasperated look. "Amongst trollkind, new whelps are celebrated occurrences; is it not the same with humans?"

Strickler laughed, slapping Blinky on the shoulder. "Generally speaking, not at 16."

"Strange," Blinky continued, much to Jim's mortification. "If humans are not meant to procreate until a later age, why do their bodies make it possible?"

"Oh, my god," Jim groaned, slapping a hand to his face. "Can we not talk about that, please?"

"Oh, we will _definitely_ be talking," Barbara said in a stern voice, and Jim peeked between his fingers to gauge his mother's expression. It was a mix between amusement and not-quite anger, but close enough.

NotEnrique started laughing so hard that he fell off of Jim's head and rolled around on the ground. Jim snatched the imp up by his scruff and glared at him, but even that didn't stop the Changeling's laughter.

"Ain't you been wonderin' why they disappear for hours at a time, Blink?" NotEnrique snickered, laughing harder at Jim's threatening growl. "Whatchu think they been doin'? Discussin' travel plans?"

"Oh," Blinky replied brightly, his eyes wide. Jim wanted to crawl in a hole and die. "That does explain a lot."

"Please, stop…" Jim begged, dropping NotEnrique and unconsciously hugging Claire closer to himself.

"That's enough," Barbara scolded the laughing Changelings, giving an especially harsh glare to her boyfriend. Strickler stifled his laughter immediately. "Jim, honey, get some blankets so Claire can lie down. I'm going to start another saline drip."

Jim reluctantly did as he was told, only leaving Claire's side long enough to find their belongings and set up a quick nest of blankets for his mate. In the commotion, he had barely noticed that the sun had set, but even his thick skin could feel the quickly dropping temperature. Thankfully, fires were being set up around camp by various trolls; most of the trolls weren't that sensitive to temperature changes, but fire still offered a sense of comfort in the unknown.

"Master Jim!"

Jim turned from his nest at the voice, surprised to find little Nyrys running toward him, holding something in her arms. Jim fell into his crouch to greet the whelp, catching her as she practically tumbled into his arms.

"Whoa, there!" Jim laughed lightly, setting the child back on her feet. "What's the hurry? Are you okay?"

"Here!" Nyrys shoved the thing in her hands into Jim's, and he looked down in shock to see a troll-shaped rag doll. The doll wasn't wearing any clothes, and had purple yarn hair held up by a leather strap. 3 buttons were sewed on for eyes, and a roughly stitched on smile stretched across the lumpy face.

"Nyrys…" Jim breathed, looking at the child's nervous smile. "Why…?"

"Her name is Solveig," Nyrys explained quickly, her expression excited. "It means 'from the house of strength.' She is a good friend and protector. I want the new baby to have her."

Jim's heart lurched in his chest, shocked at the whelp's kindness. In the nearly 10 months that he had been the Trollhunter, he hadn't really gotten to know more than a few of the trolls on a personal level, for a number of reasons. Mostly, he hadn't had time to be social what with facing death on a daily basis. There was also a very real divide that came with his humanity; the trolls respected him, but they didn't necessarily see him as one of their own. Now that he was part troll — someone who looked like them, who could understand them — they were far more open and accepting. Still, he had seen very little of the whelps and had never spoken to one before, nor had one taken such an interest in him or Claire. Despite their generally terrifying appearance and battle-ready hardiness, trolls were actually very social and had no qualms about showing physical affection to each other — something that, as a human teenager, he hadn't really understood all that well. Now that he understood and shared the deep bonds formed by the trolls, he was privy to those same feelings and instincts.

"Nyrys," Jim smiled at the whelp, cupping her face gently in his hands. He leant forward to give her an affectionate nuzzle, which she returned happily. "Thank you, but don't you want her to stay with you?"

Nyrys's expression twisted a bit, one large tooth on the side of her mouth biting into her lip, and she reached a stubby, four-fingered hand out to pet Solveig's hair. "Why does the baby make Lady Claire sick?"

Jim sighed, not quite sure how to explain. Without thinking, he glanced in the direction of where the others were clustered around his mother and mate. Strickler was bending down to gather Claire up in his arms while his mother held up the saline bag. Turning back to Nyrys, Jim ruffled her hair and smiled.

"Humans aren't as strong as trolls," Jim said softly, relying heavily on his trollish instincts to guide him through interacting with the child. He was not an awkward human, anymore, but that didn't mean he was actually used to all of the emotional changes that often clashed with his sense of human social standards. "Sometimes, when their bodies change, it makes them sick for awhile. Lady Claire's body has to grow a whole new person, and that takes a lot of her energy. It's probably not the same for trolls, is it?"

Nyrys shook her head, cocking her head to the side. "But Lady Claire is strong too! She defeated Morgana!"

Jim smiled proudly. "Yes, and she'll be okay this time; but she needs some help from other humans, and from us too." Jim pressed Solveig back into Nyrys's hands, and she looked up at him in confusion. "Why don't you hold onto her for now? The baby won't be here for a long time, and Solveig will be lonely."

Nyrys smiled brightly and hugged the doll to her chest. Her eyes shifted to somewhere behind him where he could hear approaching footsteps, the scent of his mate, mother, and friends coming closer. Nyrys darted forward to give Jim a brief nuzzle and then she was running off again. Jim couldn't help but laugh, his tension easing. Standing, he turned around to greet the others, relieved to see Claire sleeping soundly, some color coming back into her complexion. Strickler laid her down amongst the blankets while Barbara secured the IV.

"She looks better," Jim breathed, moving to his knees to cover his mate with an extra blanket. He looked up at his mother worriedly. "She won't be this sick all the time, will she?"

Barbara sighed, giving her son a stern look. "It's hard to predict. Travel won't make things easier. Her body isn't fully mature either, so that may have an affect. She'll be fine, for now; you and I need to talk."

"Now?" Jim asked hesitantly, cringing back from the look she was giving him. He was the Trollhunter, the Bular Slayer, Gunmar's Bane… and he was deathly afraid of his mother.

" _Now_ ," Barbara stated in her no-nonsense voice. She pointed a long finger at him and then jerked her arm around to point off into the distance. " _March_."

Even NotEnrique had a scared look on his face as Jim stood and reluctantly started walking in the direction his mother had indicated. He relaxed a little and shot the little troll a grateful smile when he curled up next to his sister protectively. Jim and his mother walked for a while in silence, until they were far enough away from camp that they could be afforded some semblance of privacy, and they both sat on the dusty ground next to each other. Jim resisted the urge to whine and nuzzle his mother, too nervous to allow himself to give in to the desire. He also didn't know how his mother would take this new part of himself; when they had parted in Arcadia, he had still been unused to the feelings and urges consuming him and had not expressed them out of confusion and fear. Jim was tempted to bring up his father's call as a distraction, but knew that was currently an extremely bad idea.

"I don't know what to say," Barbara finally spoke after a tense moment of silence, staring down at her hands. "I know enough about trolls and changelings to know that you must have been fully aware—"

"Yes," Jim confirmed, not allowing his voice to waver or sound weak, despite his pounding heart. "I knew she would get pregnant."

"They _why_ would you—"

"Because it's what we wanted, Mom." Jim closed his eyes, steeling himself. He was not a child, even if he knew that he would always be _her_ child.

Barbara looked at him in askance, and he met her gaze steadily. "Jim…"

"We're not kids, Mom," he said, and unconsciously brought his four fingered hand to press against his chest. The wound was completely healed, but it had left a lasting scar. "We've gone through too much to still be normal teenagers."

"You're still young," her voice was almost pleading as she responded, and Jim cringed as tears streaked down her cheeks.

He sighed, shaking his head. "Only in physical years. Mom, we knew what would happen; we wanted it to. She's my mate, and I know you don't really understand what that means to us, but I promise you, this wasn't a mistake."

She sighed again, and then Jim was surprised to find his mother in his arms, hugging him tightly. "This is _not_ going to be easy on her; especially traveling across country with no medical supervision over a pregnancy that isn't entirely human. We have no idea how that will affect Claire."

"I know," Jim said in a soft voice, finally giving in and nuzzling his mother's cheek. "I'll protect them."

Barbara laughed lightly, pulling back and wiping her tears away. "I'm more worried about who's going to protect _you_ from Claire's father."

"Ah…" Jim laughed, one of his hands reaching up to anxiously grab his horn. "Maybe… we could not say anything for awhile?"

His mother crossed her arms in front of her chest and shot Jim a stern glare. "James…"

"Alright, alright…" Jim sighed, grinning nervously at his mother. "But if he kills me, make sure Pumpkin knows that I went out heroically."

"Pumpkin?"

Jim laughed, rolling his eyes at his mother's confused expression. "The baby." Barbara raised an eyebrow, and he laughed again. "Don't ask."

Thankfully, she didn't.

 _To be continued…_

 _**REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!**_


	6. Chapter Six

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

 _And the excitement begins…_

 **Chapter Six**

Claire slept through the night and half of the next day, which was testament to how much she had needed it. Jim couldn't suppress the guilt building up inside of him. He stayed wide awake by her side the whole time she slept, too anxious to lie down with her. Her scent had gotten stronger, the smell of illness dissipating as her body recovered thanks to his mother's medical intervention. His mind had gone over every moment of the past month, remembering each night of hard travel, each missed meal, every instance where his mate had pushed herself in an attempt to keep up, to not seem weak… She was _not_ helpless, he knew, but they were both fooling themselves by not remembering that she was _human_. A budding sorceress, the defeater of Morgana, the mate of the Trollhunter… but still very much human. Not just a human, but a human whose body was currently only working at half strength as most of her energy was now going to the life she was creating within herself — a life _he_ had started within her.

Jim didn't know what to feel anymore. He couldn't regret their actions; what he had told his mother was true: this is what they wanted. They made a choice, fully aware of what would happen, overjoyed when it _did_ happen, and yet… he knew they should have waited, at least until they had reached the new Heartstone. But, _no_ , she had said 'yes,' and that was the end of it, no hope of resistance after that. All he could do now was protect her — protect _them_ — beyond even the best of his ability, even if that meant slowing their pace, resting more, making sure she ate more… anything he needed to do or change to make sure his mate and child were healthy and safe, Jim would do it.

The sun was almost at its midday peak by the time Claire woke. Thankfully, the canyon walls, ledges, and rocks made it so that there were patches of constant shade where the trolls had made their nests to sleep for the day. The nest Jim had made for Claire was in one such spot, backed against one of the canyon walls.

"Hey, there," Jim smiled and leant down to nuzzle Claire's cheek and neck as she blinked her eyes open. He brushed his hand lovingly through her hair and she gave him a sleepy smile. "There's my girl."

"I feel like I slept forever," Claire turned toward him on her side, taking his hand in hers.

"You needed it," he replied, and he could hear the undercurrent of guilt in his voice.

"Mm," Claire sighed, a soft smile on her lips as she gazed up at him. "Maybe just a little."

"If you need more rest—" Jim began, but Claire was already pushing herself up into a sitting position, her joints popping as she stretched.

"Right now, I need to pee more than I need to rest," she interrupted with a small laugh. He laughed as well and took her hands in his and helped her stand.

"Didn't I have an IV in?" Claire asked as she looked over herself once she was on her feet.

"Mom took it out a few hours ago," Jim explained, walking with her away from camp, careful to stay in the shade. "You went through 6 bags of fluid."

Claire laughed, crinkling her nose as she danced from foot to foot. "No wonder I have to pee so bad!"

Jim grinned, shaking his head in amusement. He let go of her hands and she darted toward him, full of energy again, and gave a quick lick to the underside of his jaw before running off around a corner and disappearing from view. He pressed his back to the wall, resting against the cool rock as he waited patiently for his mate.

Suddenly, his head jerked up as he caught the scent of an animal of some sort. Jim's heart raced, his eyes dilated, and a growl rose in his chest as he fell into a crouch, his focus singling in on his prey. The sound of light shuffling and the rolling of pebbles caught his twitching ears, and his eyes darted toward a movement to his left. He pounced in an instant, and the rabbit gave one loud squeal as it was caught, the sound cutting off abruptly as he snapped its neck with his teeth.

Jim panted, adrenaline coursing through him. A light growl was still vibrating in his chest as he dropped the carcass from his mouth into his hands, admiring his kill. It was a fat little thing for a jackrabbit, but Jim could smell the lean meat on it and knew it would make a good meal for Claire. He hesitated for a moment, staring at the limp rabbit dangling from his fist by its feet. He had never hunted animals as a human, so this was the first time he had hunted _anything_ for food. It unnerved him how easily he had fallen into the hunt.

"Jim?"

Jim didn't bother trying to hide his kill; he wasn't going to waste the poor thing's sacrifice just because he was uncomfortable with how it had happened. Instead, he stood and turned toward Claire, smiling awkwardly as he offered the rabbit dangling from his fist. "Hungry?"

He shouldn't have worried.

"God, I'm starving!" Claire beamed up at him, and he sighed in relief and grinned.

"I'll clean it, if you want to head back to camp," he assured her, already falling into a crouch again and biting into the rabbit's skin to peel it off.

"Is Barbara still here?" Claire's voice was strong as she watched him work. Nothing about her composure would suggest that she was disgusted or that she had been puking her guts up only 24 hours earlier.

Jim grunted, yanking the skin in his mouth back, separating it from the meat. He spit a tuft of hair on the ground, feeling blood drip down his chin. Claire merely watched him with a loving smile, and he couldn't help but be filled with pride at his mate's unconscious approval.

"She's around somewhere," he replied, licking his lips unconsciously. The blood was clean, no diseases or parasites, though he wasn't quite sure _how_ he could know that. "She wasn't too thrilled with me."

"Is she mad?" Claire's voice was small and soft, nervous and slightly scared. Jim reacted to her fear immediately, a growl rising in his throat.

He shook his head, huffing through his nose and stared down at the half-skinned rabbit in his hands. "No… not at you, anyway. And she's not really _mad_ , just… scared for you."

"But I'm fine," she said, confusion in her voice. She moved to sit on the ground next to where he was crouched, cocking her head curiously at him. He almost laughed, realizing that she was picking up some of his trollish habits. "I just didn't drink enough water, I gu—"

"You were _really_ sick, Claire," Jim said, moving to sit on the ground as well. "I was afraid… I thought you might lose it, the scent was so weak."

"Pumpkin?" Claire asked, her eyes wide.

He nodded, letting out a shaky breath. "If Merlin hadn't brought Mom…" Jim trailed off, his stomach clenching and then he squared his shoulders, continuing in a hard voice. "I'm _so_ sorry, Claire. I swore that I would protect you, and I—"

"You stop right there!" Claire interrupted him, her voice as equally hard as his had been. He yelped, more in surprise than in pain, when she grabbed him by one of his pointed ears and yanked his head down so that she could make her own growl in his ear. It was a poor imitation of his own, but damn if he wasn't turned on by it. "I'm not a pet that you have to take care of—"

"I didn't mean it like tha—"

"Shut up!" Claire's face was flushed with her temper, her eyes bright as she glared at him. Jim tightened his grip on the rabbit in an attempt to control his rising lust. "Look, I realize that I shouldn't have pushed myself, but I never would have thought that I would get _that_ sick. I mean…" She trailed off and let go of his ear, looking down at the ground. "I don't _feel_ any different, so… I don't _forget_ , but it's… it's like it hasn't hit me that this is _real_ yet. I can't tell, like you can."

"Claire…" Jim resisted the urge to pull her to him and kiss her senseless, acutely aware of the blood and fur on his hands and face. After a moment, an idea came to him and he dropped the rabbit to the ground and stood. Holding a bloody hand down to his mate, he continued, "Let me show you something."

She smiled up at him, taking his hand despite the blood. He pulled her gently to her feet and moved to stand behind her. Wrapping his arms around her middle, he took both of her hands in his and guided them to her stomach. Covering her fingers with his, he carefully pressed inward, and Claire sucked in a deep breath, her fingers starting to move on their own as Jim showed her the way her body had changed and hardened in just two weeks.

"That's…" Claire's voice was soft, an almost scared whisper. "That's my… our…?"

Jim laughed at her stunned realization, resisting the urge to nuzzle her. Blood on her hands was one thing; he wasn't going to smear blood on her face. "Yup. Crazy town banana pants, right?"

She smiled, snorting a laugh through her nose, but her attention wandered back to herself as she continued to poke at her stomach. Chuckling, he stepped back and ducked to scoop up the rabbit again. Quickly, he finished skinning and gutting his kill, watching Claire's fascination out of the corner of his eye with an amused smile.

"Still hungry?" Jim asked, holding up the rabbit for his mate's inspection.

Claire turned to him, beaming, and he heard her stomach growl. "Starving."

Jim wasn't quite sure how to cook a rabbit, so it ended up being a little on the crispy side. Claire, however, scarfed it down with enthusiasm; either she was hungrier than he had thought or it was tastier than he had judged. His sense of smell and taste were not what they used to be, and he had admittedly had a harder time telling if what he was cooking was any good.

"Want me to find another?" Jim laughed as he watched Claire finish off the meat, licking her fingers enthusiastically.

"Maybe?" Claire replied, smiling sheepishly at him. She leaned into him and nuzzled his neck lovingly. He'd washed the blood off of himself and happily nuzzled her back. "Not yet, though."

"Mm… love you," Jim sighed, pulling Claire into their nest, lying down among the blankets with her. Exhaustion was finally starting to creep up on him, and he hugged her body to his. His eyes were already drifting closed, and he felt her press her soft lips to his, kissing him sweetly. She snuggled deeper into his embrace, and he let sleep take him.

When Jim woke again, it was dusk. The canyon was dark, but the sky above was shades of orange, purple, and pink. With a start, he realized that he was alone in his and Claire's nest. He sat up quickly, taking in a deep breath, and he relaxed when he could scent Claire still fairly close. Looking around, he found her across the narrow canyon, walking out from behind an outcrop with his mother. Barbara had her medical bag slung over her shoulder. Stretching, he nimbly darted to his feet, crouching to make several small jumps toward them.

"Oh, Jim!" Barbara exclaimed in surprised as Jim landed in front of his mother and mate. Laughing, he stood to his full height, pulling his mother into a light hug. He was surprised when she nuzzled his cheek, returning his embrace.

"How did you—" Jim began, happily nuzzling his mother back, small noises of familial greeting whining from his throat.

"Claire explained," Barbara interrupted, indulging his instinctual affections. "I'm sorry if it seemed like I was rejecting you, honey. I just didn't know it was an instinct; I thought it was cultural."

"It's okay," he assured her, giving her one more nuzzle before letting her go. "I know it's kind of weird."

"No, it's not," Claire said, embracing him from his side and offering her own nuzzle, which he returned happily. Her arms tightened around him, and she gave him an excited smile as she continued, "Barbara said everything seems to be going normally for now."

Jim blinked, glancing from his mate to his mother, who was watching them with a soft — almost wistful — smile. "You mean Pumpkin?"

"Yes," Barbara chuckled, raising an eyebrow. "But I'm getting increasingly curious about that name."

Jim rolled his eyes, looking down at his mate in amusement. "Claire started it."

"Nah uh, mister," his mate said, poking his stomach with her finger. " _You're_ the one who said our child smells like a pumpkin pie."

"No, I said our child smells like cinnamon," Jim laughed, briefly noting his mother's confused expression. "You took it from there."

"Whatever," Claire giggled, rolling her eyes good-naturedly. She turned to Barbara with a smile. "Anyway, we can start traveling again, right?"

"Yes," Barbara replied, his expression taking on a slight frown. "But you've got to take it easier. If you try to push yourself, you'll just end up in the same situation as yesterday. And you need to drink more water, Claire, especially here in the desert. You're not the only one who needs it now, remember."

Claire nodded, tightening her arms around Jim. "I know. I'll be more careful from now on."

Barbara shook her head, reaching forward to place a hand on each of their shoulders. "You have to be more than careful; your body is not mature enough to handle a perfectly healthy pregnancy. You _will_ have problems, especially with traveling by foot across country. And with Jim being part troll…"

Jim cringed, looking away from his mother to stare guiltily at his feet. "Maybe… maybe you should go back with Mom."

"Absolutely not!" Claire exclaimed, reaching up to grab his ear and giving it a hard yank.

"You'll be safer—" Jim tried to reason with his mate, even if his heart felt like it was ripping from his chest at the thought of not having Claire by his side.

"I told you," Claire growled, her expression red and furious. Her anger sparked his lust, and he held himself back from pouncing on her by a thread. "Where you go, I go. You're _mine_."

"I'll always be yours," Jim promised, his chest rumbling with his own growl.

"Ahem!"

Jim and Claire looked up in surprise, having forgotten that his mother was standing in front of them. Her face was slightly red, her smile awkward. "I think Merlin is working on some charms that will allow me and some of your friends to portal to you and back, if we want to or you need us. That will help a bit."

"He is?" Jim said, rolling his eyes. "I don't know whether to thank him or strangle him. I think he finds entertainment in making life as difficult as possible."

"Something tells me he wouldn't let us take any shortcuts, anyway," Claire replied. "The man is diabolical sometimes."

"He has his moments," Jim admitted reluctantly, remembering the rings that were tucked safely away in their pack.

"Few as they are," Barbara laughed, and then her stomach growled loudly, and she blushed. "I suppose Walt and I should get home soon; you probably need to get ready to travel tonight…"

Jim looked up at the sky again, noting the muted colors. The sun was almost completely set, the last vestiges of the day painting the few clouds a purplish-gray. "I promised Claire rabbit for breakfast — er, dinner… why don't you stay and eat with us? We can't start moving until it's fully dark, anyway."

His mother's stomach growled again, and she laughed. "I won't say 'no' to some of your cooking. Walt can cook about as well as I can."

"I thought you both looked thinner," Jim smirked teasingly, and Barbara rolled her eyes.

"I'll start packing up while you're hunting," Claire said with a smile and a tight hug. She let go after a moment and held her hand out to his mother, and Jim smiled fondly as he watched his two favorite woman walking back to camp, laughing and chatting happily.

Now all he had to do was face Claire's parents…

…maybe later. Much later. He wondered with slight amusement if they could wait to tell them until _after_ the whelp was born?

But, first! Rabbits. With a grin, he sprung into action.

. . .

"Blinky, we have to get to higher ground!"

"Come now, everyone!" Blinky shouted over the pounding wind and rain. He waved all of his arms toward the canyon wall. "We have to climb! This area is not safe!"

"Why is the water rising so _fast_?" Claire shouted, huddled against Jim's side as the water and mud continuously rose higher up their legs.

Jim scooped his mate up off of the ground and looked around for one of the larger trolls. Finally, he spotted Rot shuffling toward them, Gut following behind him, barking orders.

"Rot!" Jim shouted, catching the orange troll's attention and wading through the water toward him, Claire slung up in his arms.

"Yes, Trollhunter?" Rot asked with a nervous grin. Gut glared at Jim for holding them up.

"Will you take Claire to the top with you?"

"Are you crazy?" Claire shouted, throwing her arms around his neck, clinging to his scruff. "I'm not leaving you down here!"

"Come on, Lady Claire," Rot said, easily taking her into his arms and pulling her away from Jim, despite her struggles. "The Trollhunter will be okay."

"Rot, you put me down right now!" Claire screeched, pounding against the large troll's orange back as he slung her body over his shoulder.

"I'll be right behind you!" Jim promised, watching as Rot and Gut began climbing. Claire struggled in Rot's arm, but the troll easily kept her pinned against him.

"Jim!"

Jim turned away from them and sloshed back toward Blinky, the water at his waist now. The rain had come out of nowhere on the second night since his mother and Strickler had gone home; in typical desert fashion, a flash flood had quickly built up and rushed through the canyon, turning the narrow channel into a raging river of water, mud, rocks, and branches.

"Go on, Blink!" Jim shouted, pushing his foster father toward the wall. "I'll make sure the rest get up!"

"Are you sure, my boy?" Blinky grasped Jim's shoulder with one hand nervously.

"I'll be fi—"

"NYRYS!"

Jim and Blinky both looked up at the scream only to watch in stunned horror as the whelp had slipped from her mother's back and was falling rapidly toward the rushing water. Without a thought, Jim leapt toward the child, his heart pounding. She hit the water before he caught her, sinking beneath the muddy surface, and Jim angled himself to dive in after her. The water was thick and dark with mud, and he was momentarily disoriented when he went under. The current pushed and pulled at him, knocking him against rocks and the hard floor of the canyon-turned-river. Hearing a muffled scream through the water, Jim pushed himself in its direction, the current helping to speed him along. Despite the darkness of the water, Nyrys's purple skin stood out as he spotted her clinging to an outcrop near the floor, the current flinging her small body back and forth against the rocks. Pushing himself in her direction, Jim was able to grab onto the child, pulling her into his arms as he kicked off of the floor and swam toward the surface.

The water was well past waist deep now, even higher than he was tall, and when they broke the surface, they were both gasping for breath. The current didn't let up, and they were flung back and forth and pushed down again. With his arms wrapped protectively around Nyrys, they broke the surface again, and Jim tried to swim toward the sides of the canyon with strong kicks, but it was like trying to swim through cement.

"Master Jim!" Nyrys screamed suddenly, her voice raspy and terrified. He turned as best he could and was horrified by what he saw.

"Oh, shit!" Jim exclaimed as the river in front of them disappeared into open air. He had no idea how high a drop it was, but judging from what little landscape he could make out, it was going to be quite the ride. The water was moving too hard and too fast, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to get them to safety in time. He clutched Nyrys tightly to himself, curling his body protectively around hers. "Hang on!"

They both screamed as they were flung from the edge, tumbling down the waterfall with far too much speed. Jim's stomach leapt into his throat as they fell for what seemed to him like minutes, but must have only been 10 seconds or so. Too afraid to open his eyes, Jim clung tightly to the child in his arms, his body balled up around hers to protect her from the coming impact. He didn't consider what would happen to him when they landed, but he wasn't about to let the whelp get hurt, regardless of whatever damage he would take.

The last thing Jim heard and felt before his world went black were Nyrys's terrified sobs, her little body clutched tightly to his chest, and an explosion of pain against his back.

 _To be continued…_

 _**REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED**_


	7. Chapter Seven

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

 _►Something to keep in mind for when you get to the last paragraph of this chapter: you'll come across a character speaking another language (other than English or Spanish). Because we only know a few words and phrases in Trollish, I've done the next best thing I could think of, which is to pull from some source material. Troll lore is Scandinavian in origin, so I've used a combination of Icelandic and Swedish to create the Trollish "language," if you will. Translations will be at the end of the chapter.◄_

 **Chapter Seven**

Consciousness came back to Jim slowly, his entire body trembling in pain. He wasn't in as much pain as when he had been hit with Morgana's magic, but the ensuing ache shivering through his muscles washed over him in lingering waves. He felt like his whole body was just one giant bruise. Jim felt himself lying flat on his back, his clothes damp against his skin, and he could hear the sound of rushing water somewhere off to his right. With a harsh jolt to his memory, he also heard the sound of soft whimpers and sniffles to his left. Forcing awareness back into himself, he felt a trembling warmth pressed against his left side. With far more effort than he would have liked, Jim pushed his limbs to move, his left arm wrapping around the child next to him.

Jim coughed, his breath coming back to him in agony. His lungs burned, and his chest ached. "Nyrys?"

"M-M-Master Jim!"

Jim grunted and grit his teeth as the whelp threw herself into his chest. He forced his eyes open and was stunned to find a light gray sky above him, the thick clouds disguising the morning sun. Pushing himself up into a sitting position, he cradled Nyrys's sobbing form to his chest, frantically looking around for some kind of shelter. All Jim could scent in the air was himself and Nyrys and the rain that had flooded the valley they found themselves in. Thankfully, they seemed to have been washed up on a bank, rather than being stranded somewhere in the middle of the rushing waters.

"Wh-where is Mommy?" Nyrys sobbed into Jim's chest. He swallowed back the fear rising in his throat and hugged her tighter.

Stumbling to his feet, Jim rocked the child gently, trying to soothe her while he found his bearings. He had no idea where they were or where their pack was. They could have been washed _miles_ away from the others. He couldn't see any hint of the cliff they had been swept over, the valley wide and flat in all directions. Following the pseudo-river back wasn't feasible; they would only end up back at the canyon — provided that the water hadn't branched off in several channels at some point, which Jim was sure was likely the case. The others had gone upward, out of the canyon, and were not only on much higher ground, but traveling in a direction that he had no way of guessing without a map or GPS. His phone and the Amulet were zipped up in one of the pockets in his cargos; while the Amulet was likely fine, there was no chance his phone had survived the drowning.

"Shh, shh…" Jim hushed the whelp gently as she cried and shivered in his arms. Pressing his forehead to hers, he softly nuzzled her nose with his own. "It's going to be okay. We're going to find a place to rest for the day, and when night comes, we'll meet up with the others, okay?"

"I'm scared…"

Jim smiled sadly, recalling the way those same words had left his own mouth just over a month ago, when he'd realized the extent of what he had sacrificed. "I'm scared too."

Nyrys sniffled, her tears slowing. "Y-you are?"

"Yeah," he said, letting out a shaky breath. "But it's okay to be scared. In fact, being scared is the first rule of Trollhunting!"

Nyrys gave a watery laugh, wiping her nose with the back of her arm. "But the Trollhunters are brave."

Jim shook his head, picking a direction leading away from the flowing water, and started to walk. "Being brave doesn't mean that you're not allowed to be scared; sometimes, we have to do the best we can, even though we might be terrified."

Nyrys didn't reply, chewing on her fingers in worry, and laid her head down against his chest. Jim picked up speed, despite his body's painful protest, and fell into a slow run. He kept his senses on alert, looking around for anything that might give them decent coverage from the sun. It had stopped raining, and the clouds were beginning to thin; he could feel the heat that the sun was creating as it drew higher in the sky. After an hour of running, Jim was starting to really panic. He was actively dodging patches of sunlight now, and while he kept the whelp out of harm's way with his own body, he had taken a few burns.

"Humans..."

"What?" Jim asked, distracted from his search by Nyrys's sleepy voice.

"I smell humans," she replied, lifting her head from his shoulder and rubbing tiredly at her eyes.

Jim froze in place, taking in a deep breath through his nose. She was right; there _were_ humans close by. A mix of males and females, and he could hear laughter and chatter coming from the direction of their scents.

"Hikers," Jim realized aloud, his heart pounding in his throat.

On the one hand, this was a good thing — it meant that they were close to civilization, someplace they would be able to find coverage to wait out the day in safety. On the other hand, they were now out in the open with no cover, a group of humans coming closer, and extremely _not_ human themselves. He had no desire to find himself and the whelp on a dissection table at Area 51, but he saw no avenue of escape. The landscape was barren, save for mud, boulders, and a few cacti; it wasn't like they could just blend into—

"Hold tight," Jim whispered to Nyrys, an idea coming to him as his eyes landed on a a huge dip in the ground that was filled with thick mud. He leapt right into the middle of it, and instead of being frightened with the way he sunk knee-deep into the muck, he let out a shaky breath of relief and grinned at the confused child in his arms. "Wanna play in the mud?"

Nyrys smiled widely, catching on, and Jim plopped down into the mud, shifting until he was seated shoulders deep. He kept Nyrys tucked against himself, her head above the mud, and then proceeded to cover her face and hair in the thick brown substance. Giggling, the child scooped up huge handfuls of mud and proceeded to dump them over his own hair, horns, and face.

"We look like mud monsters!" she laughed, and he grinned at her briefly before ducking her down against his chest again, curling his body around her.

"Keep quiet," Jim whispered, the sound of the humans drawing closer to their location. "Don't move."

One of the perks of being a troll was that, if someone told you not to move, it was an easily followed command. As beings that were made of stone, they could mimic the material with ease. Though Jim's skin _wasn't_ stone, he no longer felt the need to move and fidget like a human would. Hopefully, if the humans looked their way at all, he and Nyrys would look like nothing more than a weirdly shaped boulder.

"—ter said he was a monk in the Chinese military!"

"Oh, my god; they bought that story?!"

"I call bullshit on that!"

"Dude, I was _there_! I saw the whole thing go down! So, then the cop is all like 'sure, buddy, and I'm the president!'"

"What happened then?"

"Peter pulls out his minister certification card, and the cop doesn't know what to do now!"

"Seriously? He got that on the internet in half an hour!"

"It's legal! So, the cop is like 'well, why are there 3 empty wine bottles in your car?' And you know what Peter said? 'I was holding communion with the homeless on 5th street!'"

The friends laughed, commenting and joking about Peter's religious exploits, but otherwise didn't linger. Jim and Nyrys kept utterly still until the voices had long-since faded, too nervous to budge even an inch. Finally, when even the scent of the humans was gone, Jim cracked an eye open to take in their surroundings. They were alone again, but the sun's rays were stronger, the clouds breaking up above them. Quickly, he struggled to his feet, the mud weighing him down, and then leapt out of the sludge, Nyrys clinging tightly to his chest, her eyes still squeezed shut.

"They're gone," Jim promised the child, bouncing her lightly in his arms. She opened her eyes, blinking at the bright light and then cowered back.

"The sun!"

"The clouds are still covering most of it," he replied, scenting the air around them. The living scent of the humans was gone, but he easily piked up the trail that they had left behind and immediately fell into a sprint, following the scent back to its origin. "We can make it; just stay tucked against me."

"You'll turn to stone!" Nyrys whimpered, but she did as she was told and kept her body small and tucked into his arms.

"I won't," he assured her. "I'm only part troll, remember? It'll burn, but it will heal as soon as I'm in the shade again. Now, stay down."

The hikers had already walked at least five miles by the time they had reached Jim and Nyrys, taking a winding path that doubled back in places. He kept his senses alert for more humans, but thankfully, they remained alone. Finally, they came upon an empty stretch of road, the hiker's rusted hippy van parked along the side of the guard rail. Jim leapt toward the van, landing on the cracked pavement in front of it, and carefully placed Nyrys on the ground while he regarded the vehicle. She crawled under it, afraid of the few rays of sunlight beginning to break through the clouds.

"I'll see if they have a map or something we can use," Jim told her, reaching forward to test the passenger door handle. It was locked, of course, and while he felt guilty about doing it, he used his strength to easily break the handle to get the door open.

"Is there one of those talking things?" Nyrys's small voice echoed up to him from beneath the van.

"A phone?" Jim replied, searching through the junk strewn about the car. _Deya, do these kids live out of this thing?_ He could also smell the scent of alcohol, cigarettes, and sex, and it made his stomach turn; after the 5th used condom he'd come across in the mess, he was more than ready to just forget looking for anything and get Nyrys out of there. "I don't see any phones. Maybe — ah, wait!"

Jim's hand had grasped a large folded paper hidden under the passenger seat, and he pulled it out to reveal a crumpled map of Arizona. He was slightly stunned for a moment; they had traveled to the southern tip of Nevada to pass through the mountainous regions, but the goal was to get to Utah. Had the flood really washed them into another state? And if it had, and their pack had stayed on their set course, they could be separated from each other by quite the distance.

"Let's get out of here," Jim tapped the hood of the van, crouching to offer his arms to the child in hiding. Swiftly, she crawled out, and he picked her up and took off.

They were very exposed along the road, but Jim didn't want to risk wandering too far from it, cross referencing the highway markers with the map clutched in his hand. It didn't take long to confirm that they were, indeed, in Arizona, though just barely. Once he'd figured out _where_ they were, Jim easily found the closest town on the map, and they were on the edge of it in less than 10 minutes. With a sense of victory, Jim was elated when they came across a deserted train yard, and he quickly vaulted up and over the tall fence. Jim hissed and jerked back as he landed in the path of a sunbeam, his right shoulder taking the brunt of the burn. Nyrys was protected by his body, and he noted that the mud covering them was also helping to shield their skin from any extreme reaction. Keeping his nose aware to any human scents, he quickly darted through the thinning patches of shade — only catching 2 or 3 more slight burns — toward a rusty, old boxcar that was missing its wheels and half tipped against a cement wall.

"Get in," Jim encouraged the child, cringing as the door slid open with an ear-piercing screech. Nyrys obeyed, crawling into the opening and dropping into the darkness with a light thud. Swinging himself up and over the edge, he fell into the boxcar behind her, quickly sliding the door shut with another horrid screech.

Jim had never thought that he would ever feel so relieved to find himself trapped in complete darkness, even if the inside of the tin can they were in was sweltering hot. Breathing out a relieved sigh, he fell to his butt in exhaustion, feeling Nyrys climb into his lap not even a moment after. Leaning his back and head against the wall (not an easy feet when his horns nearly pierced the weakened steel), he hugged the child and rubbed her back absentmindedly.

"Try and get some sleep," Jim whispered, and he laughed when her stomach grumbled as an answer, and then his own stomach grumbled. "We'll have to wait until tonight to eat, though."

"Cats?" Nyrys asked excitedly, and Jim cringed.

"Er… how about rats, instead?" he bargained, not comfortable with hunting down innocent felines.

Nyrys giggled and then yawned. "You haven't tried cats yet, have you?"

"Nyrys, I know cat is really tasty to trolls, but I don't think I could ever bring myself to eat one."

"Humans are weird," she lamented, scrunching her nose up at him. "But rats are good too. Not as good as cats, though."

"I'll take your word for it," Jim replied with a tired laugh. He closed his eyes and relaxed his body, the whelp in his arms doing the same. "Now, sleep."

"Mommy sings to me when I'm too scared to sleep," Nyrys said quietly, and he snorted a laugh at the manipulative tone in her voice.

"Does she?" he murmured in reply, cracking one eye open to look down at the child. She was still curled against his chest, her eyes closed, chewing on her fingers again.

"Yeah," she whispered around her fingers. "You sing to Lady Claire."

Jim's heart lurched, and he sighed. "How do you know that?"

"I heard you," he heard her murmur sleepily. "When she had the nightmares right after we left Arcadia. You sang to her when she woke up scared."

Jim remembered. It had started two nights into their exodus, when they'd been so exhausted that when they had finally stopped to rest, it was like flipping a switch; as soon as their eyes had closed, they were out. He'd been awoken abruptly a few hours later when his mate had started thrashing and screaming in her sleep. Jim wasn't surprised that Nyrys would recall the incident as everyone had jerked awake in fright, still on edge from the battle with Gunmar and Morgana. He had held Claire tightly in his arms, begging her to wake up, and in desperation, he had started singing softly in her ear.

"Hoy desperté con ganas de besarte…"

Nyrys was asleep before he even finished the first verse, and Jim was only too happy to follow after her. His burns were sore, his muscles ached, and he felt like he hadn't slept in days. He knew from previous experiences that being knocked unconscious was definitely not the same thing as true sleep. When exhaustion finally claimed him, he fell into it gratefully, praying that luck would turn for them when they woke with the night.

. . .

As promised, when night fell, Jim hunted down a handful of rats for their breakfast. Nyrys scarfed them down, fur and all, but Jim couldn't bring himself to eat the fur and guts. The child laughed at his 'weirdness,' but happily ate his castoffs. He was reluctant to admit that the raw meat was pretty tasty, but couldn't deny that he was starving. Under the safe cover of night, they were able to escape the train yard without incident, but Jim kept to the rooftops and alleys to be safe. The town was even smaller than Arcadia, which he would have found hard to believe if he wasn't seeing it with his own eyes. In the distance, he could see huge cliffs and canyons rising above the town, and Jim wondered if they were part of the same canyon system they had been in earlier. The town itself was like walking through a Western movie, tumbleweeds included. The single road going right through the middle of it was paved, but so old that it was riddled with cracks and potholes. The shops were just as run down, clearly having stood the test of time for decades, if not particularly well. There were streetlights lining either side of the road, but only one was sort of working, blinking out and sputtering every few seconds.

"Isn't that a talking thing?" Nyrys said as they landed on the roof of an old gas station. She was pointing down, and Jim followed her finger's direction to spot a phone booth directly below them, just outside of the gas station's locked doors.

"Yes," Jim confirmed, jumping down to the ground after making sure the area was deserted. "Let's see if it works."

Shifting the whelp in his arms to his hip, he cradled her carefully with one arm while moving to pick up the phone with his free hand. Jim suppressed his excitement, not wanting to give the child false hope in the very likely chance that the line was dead. He hesitated briefly, his hand hovering nervously over the receiver, and then he snatched it up and brought it to his ear, his eyes squeezed shut in preparation for silence.

The buzz of a dial tone greeted him, and he nearly jumped in excitement at the sound. Instead, Jim pressed the receiver between his ear and shoulder and proceeded to unzip one of his pockets and fish around for some change. The cash was still wet, but he had a few quarters that he happily fed to the machine, punching in a series of numbers from memory. On his hip, Nyrys cocked her head curiously at his actions, but remained silent.

"C'mon, answer, answer…" Jim murmured anxiously as the phone rang several times over, his fear growing with every second that passed.

"H-hello?"

The voice on the other end was thick and hoarse, like she had been crying or screaming for hours, and Jim's heart ached at the sound of it, though he was relieved that she had finally answered the phone.

"Claire…" he breathed into the mouthpiece, his body slumping against the side of the booth in relief.

"JIM?!" Claire's voice broke as she sobbed out his name. "Oh, Deya! We tr-tried to follow the water, but we couldn't f-find you, and I wanted to keep looking, but Blinky wou-wouldn't let—"

"Hey, hey, shhh…" Jim murmured into the line, his eyes watering at the distress in her voice and his relief at hearing it.

"God, Jim, are you _okay_?" she begged, and he couldn't help the whine that left his throat. They hadn't been separated for this long since he had come back from the Dark Lands.

"We're fine," he replied, unconsciously tightening his arm around Nyrys. "We were washed over into Arizona."

"Arizona?! Wait, 'we'? Oh, god, you found the baby?"

"Hi, Lady Claire!" Nyrys said cheerfully, leaning toward the receiver, and Jim chuckled.

"Oh, Nyrys!" Claire's voice was still thick, but she was calming down, and Jim could hear the relief in her voice. "Bebé, are you hurt at all? We thought—"

"M'okay," the whelp assured Claire, reaching forward to pat the phone as if Claire could feel the gesture through the line. "We painted each other with mud and pretended to be rocks so some humans wouldn't see us! And we spent the day in a big metal box thing! And Master Jim caught a bunch of fat rats for breakfast!"

Claire gave a watery laugh on the other end of the line, and Jim could hear her sniffling. "Sounds like you had a fun adventure!"

Jim chuckled darkly and sarcastically replied, "Yeah; tons of fun."

"Are you okay?" Claire asked again, her voice still scratchy.

"Just can't wait to see you again," he said, knowing that his tone was implying more to the story. "Do you know where you are?"

"We're by the outskirts of Mesquite, I think," Claire replied, and he was grateful that she read his tone and didn't push for further details.

Jim quickly looked over his map, and his heart leapt into his throat in excitement. "That's on the border — along the same highway that we're on. Looks like… 10, maybe 15 miles from us."

"I'll come to you—"

"No, you stay there—"

"Jim—"

"Claire, listen to me!" Jim growled into the receiver, an anxious whine following behind it. "We'll find you, okay? I'll be faster on foot, and you don't need to chance getting yourself lost or hurt."

"I just want you," Claire sobbed, her voice muffled. He could imagine the way she covered her mouth with her hand whenever she cried heavily. "I want you."

"I know; I want you too, mi amor," Jim sighed, his voice breaking in emotion. Nyrys brushed her hand across his cheek, and he realized that he was crying too. "We'll find you before the day comes. Just stay where you are, okay?"

"We're not far from the road," she said after a moment, her tone defeated.

"Then we'll be there soon," Jim promised, smiling. Nyrys giggled when he bounced her on his hip. "Claire."

Claire laughed and then hiccuped, "Wh-what?"

"When we get back…" Jim said, his voice soft. "…will you marry me?"

There was a heartbeat of silence, and then Jim had to jerk the phone away from his ear with a laugh as Claire shouted, "YES! DEFINITELY YES!"

"Look in our pack, in the left side pocket," he said, unable to wipe the smile from his face, even if there were still a few rogue tears slipping down his cheeks. "And we'll be there soon, okay? I love you."

"I lo—"

"Please deposit fifty cents to extend call. Please deposit fi—"

Jim hung the receiver up with a sigh, and Nyrys laid her head against his shoulder. "I'll be with Mommy again soon?"

"Very soon," he promised, nuzzling her nose with his. He shifted the child until she was on his back. "Hold tight. I'm going to run really fast, okay?"

"''kay," she laughed, her voice excited. She climbed up onto his shoulders, and he grasped her little legs in his hands while she held on tightly to his horns. "Ready, set, go!"

Jim took off like a shot, following the highway toward Mesquite after a quick once over of the map. He kept his pace fast, his jumps erratic and rough, but the whelp held tight, never budging. He ran for a little less than an hour when he came upon a sign welcoming them to Mesquite, Nevada. He slowed his pace and scented the air; he couldn't smell anything recognizable, but he stayed close to the road, trusting his mate's assurance that their pack was close to it.

"Tell me if you scent your mom or any of the others, okay?" Jim told the whelp, keeping his own senses on alert too. It wasn't so much that the kid had a better sense of smell than him, but she knew the scent of the other trolls in their pack far better than he did. Merlin forbid he pick up the scent of a troll, and it turned out to actually be someone else entirely. He had no desire to meet the locals, unsure of their customs. With his luck so far, they would be flesh eaters who wouldn't take kindly to a half-human, Trollhunter or not.

"Right!" Nyrys replied seriously, tightening her grip on his horns and sniffing the air as if he had given her a life saving mission. He chuckled, breathing deeply.

"There, I think…" Jim slowed to a stop, catching the slight scent of several trolls. He thought a few of the scents were familiar, and he followed his nose until he spotted a few blue lights in the distance.

"Those are Glow Crystals!" Nyrys exclaimed, following his line of vision as he turned his head. She sniffed the air a few times and then gave an excited squeal. "I smell Mommy and Aunty 'Dwella and Blinky and everyone!"

Jim grinned, and bounced the whelp on his shoulders, warning her with a quick "hang on!" before taking off again. They were in the middle of a wide and flat valley, high cliffs and rock formations stretching across the distance. It was unusual for the pack to stop in the middle of an open space like that, especially as close to the road as they were, but he assumed that Blinky would want to keep the group moving once Jim had caught up with them. They'd lost at least a day's time between Claire being sick, the rains, the flooding, and getting separated. The others must have looked for them for awhile or they would have been much further out. As they drew closer, he heard shouts rise up from the group, and then he was nearly bowled over by a small, warm body crashing into his.

"Cl—" Jim began with a slight laugh, but his mate cut him off by smashing her lips to his and leaping to wrap her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. He let go of one of Nyrys's legs to catch Claire's body from falling; the child wobbled on his shoulders, but his remaining grip on her combined with Claire's arms wrapped around them both, kept her from toppling off.

"Eeeew," Nyrys whined, and Jim felt her pat the top of his head, between his horns. "Why do humans _do_ that? Why do you want to eat each other's _spit_?!"

Jim and Claire broke apart laughing, only laughing harder when they noticed that they were still connected by said string of spit. Nyrys made another disgusted noise as he quickly licked Claire's mouth clean.

"Oh, Trollhunter, you saved her! My baby!"

"Mommy!"

Claire loosened her grip on him and slid to her feet as the other trolls gathered around them, Nyrys's mother at the forefront. She was a huge woman, blue skinned, her hair long and held up with a leather strap, a bright orange color, like her daughter's. She had two horns that looked like smaller versions of Draal's, and the thought wrenched at his heart. She rushed up to him, pulling him, her whelp, and Claire into a tight hug.

"You saved my baby, Trollhunter!" the woman cried, nuzzling him by knocking her horns against his, a sign of submission and respect among troll-kind. Jim returned the gesture with a smile and Nyrys climbed over his head and onto her mother's.

"Thank you, Master Jim," the whelp said, curling up into a little boulder between her mother's horns. "I had lots of fun!"

Jim laughed, tightening his grip on Claire as she clung to his side. Nyrys's mother let them go, and there were giant tears welling up in her eyes. To his surprise, the woman then turned toward Claire. "Lady Claire, if you will welcome it, I would be happy to teach you some Trollish lullabies and remedies for your whelp. As your own mother is not here, I will be happy to guide you; I believe humans and trolls are not so different in our birthing manners."

Claire rushed forward and embraced the troll around her middle, hugging tightly. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" She gave a watery laugh, and continued, "I don't even know human lullabies. My mom never sang any."

Jim was surprised at this admittance, but he could see how it would be true. He had never heard either of the elder Nuñez's sing a lullaby or recite a nursery rhyme to Enrique, and the only cuddly toy either Claire or Enrique had ever had was Suzy Snooze, who was given to Claire by her Abuelita. While Mr. Nuñez was more affectionate than his wife, neither of them were really 'baby' people. Claire had essentially raised herself and when Enrique had arrived, she had become his primary caregiver. The realization made him wonder who was taking care of Enrique now that Claire was gone.

"Never?" Nyrys's mother gasped, returning Claire's hug lightly. The woman was gentle and Jim wasn't worried over whether she might misjudge her strength against the sturdiness of a human. "Oh, kära einn. Mother Dagny will keep you now." Jim and Claire both laughed as Dagny grabbed Jim by the horn and pulled him into her's and Claire's embrace. "I will keep you both, unga jägare."

► _Translations_ ◄

 ** _Swedish_**

 _kära = dear_

 _unga jägare = young hunters_

 ** _Icelandic_**

 _einn = one_

 ** _Trollish_**

 _kära einn = dear one_

 _To be continued…_

→ _REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED_ ←


	8. Chapter Eight

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

 _Originally, this chapter was much longer, but I decided to split it, or it would have breached more than 20 pages. The good news on that front, though, is that the next chapter is already half-completed._

► _This chapter contains smut._ ◄

 **Chapter Eight**

Blinky had pulled Jim into a tight embrace for several minutes, but the celebration didn't last long. As he had predicted, Blinky wanted to keep the group moving; early as the night was, they were still relatively out in the open. Relieved to be with his pack again, Jim made no arguments, happily pulling his mate onto his back. Supplies and belongings were quickly gathered back up and the group set off into the darkness once more.

"I - love - you - so - much," Claire whispered in his ear, punctuating each word with a kiss to said ear. She held out her left hand in front of them, showing off the silver band on her ring finger. The magic imbued in the object pulsed in time with her heartbeat. She nuzzled his neck lovingly and wickedly nipped at his flesh.

Jim sucked in a deep breath at the sensation, his grip on her thighs tightening. He could smell her arousal and feel her heat pressed against his spine, and he growled in desire. "I love you too, but don't start something we can't finish."

"In the morning then," she laughed, nuzzling him again, though she thankfully refrained from using her teeth. Claire wiggled the fingers of her left hand, still outstretched in front of them. "They have magic in them; did Merlin give you these for us?"

Jim cringed lightly, but nodded. "I know I should have bought you a ring, but—"

"These are perfect," she interrupted in a soft voice, her chin resting on his shoulder as he walked. "Even if you didn't have any rings, I would marry you a thousand times over."

Jim sighed happily, gently nuzzling her cheek with his. "I… Blinky explained to me how troll marriages work… I mean, I know it won't be _legal_ by human standards, but… it means more than a piece of paper."

"I know," Claire assured him, bringing her arm back to wrap around his shoulder with her other one. "And I already considered us essentially married anyway, but… I want to make it official in some sense. I've read about the magic used to make mating bonds between trolls — it's beautiful. I want us to be one like that."

Jim's stomach filled with warmth, his heart lodging itself in his throat at his mate's words. "Soon, then?"

Claire laughed and replied, "Definitely." She shuffled herself for a moment, her left arm leaving his shoulders again to reach somewhere behind her. After a moment of searching, she brought her arm back around again, holding his ring out in front of them. "Wear yours?"

Jim smiled, and released his left hand from her thigh to hold up in front of her. The five fingers were smaller than the four on his right hand, but still huge in comparison to Claire's. Gently, she slid the ring onto his ring finger, and he watched in surprise as the band magically expanded to fit his finger perfectly. They held their hands side-by-side to admire the matching jewelry, and then sighed together, breaking out into laughter at their love-sickness.

"I'll ask Blinky if he would do the ceremony in the morning," Jim promised, dropping his arm to grip her thigh again, hitching her body higher up his back.

"Before or after our date?" Claire whispered seductively, giving his ear lobe a soft lick.

"Before," Jim said with a low growl, a shudder rushing through his body. Grinning, a wicked idea came to him; two could play at her game. "I want to feel our souls bound while our bodies are doing the same."

Claire moaned in his ear, the heat against his back increasing. He wouldn't be surprised if there was a wet spot there when she got down. "That _will_ feel nice."

"You're bad," Jim laughed, but his hands slid higher, grabbing her butt.

"Is it at all possible for you two to rein yourselves in until you're alone?"

Jim turned in surprise at Blinky's stern voice, catching sight of his foster father glaring at them… sort of. Two of his six eyes were looking down to where Jim's hands had wondered on his mate's body. His face burned in embarrassment, while Claire giggled, hiding her face in his scruff.

"Er… sorry?" Jim grinned sheepishly. Quickly, he continued in an awkward voice, "Um… speaking of which, though… uh, would you marry us when we stop for the day?"

Instantly, Blinky's expression changed to one of joy, and he clapped all of his hands together excitedly. "Oh, I would be delighted to!" He paused for a moment, his bottom two hands wringing together. "Um… would your parents disapprove?"

"Oh, definitely," Claire laughed, tightening her arms around Jim's shoulders. "But we don't care."

Jim grinned, tilting his head to nuzzle his mate lovingly. "We've done everything out of order, anyway."

"Hm…" Blinky hummed, his expression thoughtful, and Jim wasn't sure he liked the look of it. "It doesn't make much sense, does it? When trolls have whelps, it is when they are old enough to do so… and yet, your mother says you are too young. How is that possible?"

Jim groaned, embarrassed. Claire laughed again and replied, "It's more of a social standard. Human bodies become 'adult' before we're considered adults by other humans; technically speaking, I've been able to have a baby since I was 11."

"Goodness, even I know that's too young!" Blinky exclaimed, his expression horrified. His eyes darted back to Jim's. "You were that young too?"

Jim's face burned, mortified at the turn the conversation was taking. "Er… 12."

"So strange."

Jim and Claire laughed, thoroughly embarrassed, and Jim averted his eyes from his father's, purposefully looking in the direction that they were walking in. "Can we never discuss this again, please?"

Blinky and Claire both laughed loudly.

. . .

The group travelled at least ten miles during the night, taking wide paths around the towns and cities. An hour before dawn, the desert started thinning, trees and shrubs popping up randomly. The further they walked, the denser the foliage became until — finally — they were hidden safely in a thick forest. The branches overhead seemed to hug one another, linking together to provide almost complete shade from the rising sun. Before the sun rose completely for the day, tarps were handed out and strung up between trees to block any stray sunbeams that managed to break through the foliage. Claire and Jim went further out from the others before setting up their own tarp and nest. The scent of the others was barely noticeable from where they were, so Jim knew that they were well out of their hearing range. Blinky had followed them, carrying a large crystal of living Heartstone with him.

"Are you ready?" Blinky asked, his body nearly vibrating in excitement.

Jim and Claire grinned at each other, and Jim's heart beat erratically in his chest. They held each other's hands, hers so small in his, and nodded without breaking eye contact with each other.

"What do we do?" Jim asked breathlessly.

"Take the Heartstone," Blinky said, handing the crystal to Jim. It was heavy, even to his new strength, and he could feel the magic and life force pulsing off of it. "And kneel facing each other… good, now press your foreheads together and hold the Heartstone between you."

Jim and Claire moved as directed, sitting on their knees amongst the blankets of their nest and pressed their foreheads together, closing their eyes. The Heartstone was between them, held up by their hands and braced against their chests. Jim heard Blinky start to speak in Trollish, but he suddenly couldn't concentrate on translating exactly what his foster father was saying. He and Claire both gasped breathlessly as energy began to pulse from the Heartstone, pulling and pushing at their souls. It was something Jim could actually _feel,_ as if there was a wave crashing over him and flowing into him, but it wan't water or even magic. It was simply… Claire. He didn't know how else to describe the sensations rushing through him; it was Claire and it was him and it was _them_. He could even feel something that was her, but not her, but also him, but not him; if he hadn't been bound by the energy pushing and pulling to and from him, he would have dropped the crystal in shock, realizing that it was _the baby_ he was feeling, its budding soul entwined with theirs. Jim's heart leapt and jolted in his chest, almost like it was trying to align itself with a second beat, and he could almost hear Claire's own heart doing the same, beating erratically until both of their hearts fell into the same rhythm. He felt joy and happiness and nervous excitement and a little bit of fear — but they weren't _his_ emotions. He felt the same emotions, but the secondary ones were tinged differently, almost like they had a different mental flavor. Jim knew these were Claire's emotions in that moment, and he snapped his eyes open to stare in amazement into Claire's, her expression just as awestruck as his must have been.

Slowly and softly, the crystal's energy faded back into itself, Blinky's Trollish chant coming to a close. Both Jim and Claire were breathing heavily, almost like they had just finished making love; in a way, it was sort of like that, Jim realized. Their souls had made love, rather than their bodies, and he could feel the love pouring from her soul and into his through their new bond. The crystal slipped numbly from their hands to the ground, both of them grabbing for each other instead, pressing their mouths and tongues together and gasping in shock and pleasure as they realized that they could also feel each other's pleasure as well.

Jim barely heard Blinky give an embarrassed squeak before quickly running off, likely knowing that there was no chance he was going to get a response out of them until they were ready. Jim was certainly ready, but not for conversation, and Claire was right there with him, already undoing the fasteners on his cargos. He ripped — literally ripped; she would have to borrow one of his again — her shirt and bra from her small body, and trailed his heavy kisses from her mouth and down her neck. He could feel how much she liked it, groaning in pleasure as he took her breast into his mouth and tongued her nipple roughly. He growled hungrily against her chest at all of the sensations and emotions crashing through him, and he knew she was feeling the same, her breath coming in short and hard pants. He doubled his efforts, switching back and forth between her breasts, when he felt her soft, warm hand grasp him firmly and begin to move over him with purpose.

"Ah!... oooh," Claire moaned, gasping for breath as she likely felt his own pleasure, just as he felt hers. It was building between them both quickly, the feelings being shared and passed back and forth. "Are you... do you — does it always... always feel like this... for you? I — I feel like—"

"This is more," Jim managed to gasp, his lips meeting hers again, their tongues tangling in a sloppy kiss. "I've nev-never felt like this… befo-before. By Deya, I love you so much."

Suddenly, Claire pulled away from him, and he gave a confused whine. She gave him a shy smile and then shoved her jeans and panties down her waist, the material bunching at her knees. He completely forgot how to breathe when she turned just enough to fall to her hands, arching her backside toward him with a seductive look thrown over her shoulder.

Jim was frozen in place, not quite sure how to proceed. His remaining humanity told him that making love in _that_ position was seriously disrespectful to his mate, but his trollish nature was practically roaring in excitement. Her heavily aroused scent, the sight of her dark curls glistening with wetness, and her own anticipation and excitement that he could feel from her, however, made quick work of his indecision. He only hesitated long enough to shove his own pants down to his knees and rip off his shirt, and then he was on her, _in her_ , and they both cried out as their combined pleasure coursed through both of their bodies. He had enough sense left in him to remember that his mate was still a very fragile human — a breeding human, at that — and he kept his movements as gentle as he could. That wasn't saying much, though, as he could feel the wildness building up inside of himself and (by extension) Claire. Jim was only slightly embarrassed that he was humping her like a dog, her body trembling as he wrapped his arms around her waist, his left hand finding her sensitive spot. They both yelped at the sudden increase in sensation as he touched her, and he growled, his animalistic instincts rising quickly to the surface.

 _Gently, gently_ … Jim reminded himself, unable to resist the urge to grasp the back of her neck with his teeth, holding her to him. He bit hard enough to likely leave indents from his teeth, but he didn't break the skin. Instead of feeling pain or fear from his mate, however, she had the exact opposite reaction.

"Oh, oh, oh, oh, _oooooh_ ," Claire's voice echoed around them in time with his thrusts. Suddenly, he felt her body physically contract around his at the same time as he felt an overwhelming surge of pleasure burst from her.

A deep growl ripped from Jim's chest, his hips jerking hard against Claire's backside, and he nearly went blind with the force of his own orgasm combined with hers. His release triggered another from her, which did the same for him, and it was like they were having a constant orgasm for several minutes. Jim rocked against Claire with each pulse that went through him, and he could feel his seed spilling from her body, warm and slick and sticky between them.

When their bodies finally exhausted themselves and Jim opened his eyes again — when had he closed them? — he was surprised to find that they were lying flat, Claire sprawled beneath him, trembling and breathing heavily. Their bodies were still connected, and he relaxed on top of her, his own body trembling almost as much as hers. He felt weak and powerful all at once, and so in love with the woman sharing her body with his. Carefully, he released her skin from his teeth. There were no scratches or blood, but he licked soothingly at the marks left behind on her flesh. Both of their bodies were aching from left over pleasure, and Jim noted a fuzzy buzz of emotions and feelings flowing back and forth between them.

"You okay?" Jim managed to mumble, nuzzling the back of Claire's neck lovingly.

"You _know_ I am," she replied, a lazy smile on her lips as she rested the side of her head on her arms. "I've never felt so full."

If he hadn't been so exhausted, Jim would have laughed. All the same, he smiled lazily against her smooth skin and said with a moaned sigh, "I don't think I've ever come that much in my life. Like, my whole life — ever. That just broke all the records."

Claire huffed a soft laugh through her nose, cracking an eye open to look over her shoulder at him in amusement. "You've been keeping track?"

"A boy's gotta have a hobby when he's not fighting for his life and saving the world," he snickered in response, licking her ear. He tilted his head further to lick her upturned chin. "Want me to clean you up?"

"No," Claire replied in a soft, content voice. "Stay inside me… besides, you start _that_ , and we'll not get any sleep before nightfall and just make a bigger mess."

Jim did laugh at that, the movement jarring their bodies in interesting ways. Reining himself in, Jim grinned and chastely kissed his mate's cheek. "You sure? I kind of want to know what that feels like now…"

"Sleep now, please," Claire mumbled, still smiling, but he could feel the genuine exhaustion pulling at her. "The human needs to recover."

"Weak human," Jim teased, his voice soft as he pressed kisses along her shoulders.

"Hey, you married me," she joked back, and he tightened his arms around her, his throat pinching in emotion.

"Always."

. . .

They only slept for an hour or two when they were rudely awakened by the loud ringing of Claire's phone. His own had already been tossed, completely worthless after being drowned in water and mud.

"Whosit?" Jim mumbled, reaching out an arm to blindly search for the object amongst their blankets. Beneath him, Claire sighed, groaning at the interruption.

"It's the Stranger Things theme…" she mumbled, reaching out and finding her phone in just a few seconds. "…means it's someone not in my contacts."

"Telemarketer, then," Jim replied, already on his way back to dreamland.

"'lo?… What?… I'm sorry, I think you have… Yes, this is Claire. May I ask who's calling, please?"

Jim cracked his eyes open, gazing curiously down at his mate as she spoke in tired confusion into the device in her hand. The voice on the other end was soft, and he couldn't make out all of the words the person was saying, but something about the sound pulled vaguely at his memory.

"…who _is_ this?" Claire said after the person replied, a tinge of fear building in her, and Jim was awake in an instant. He pushed himself up on his elbows, leaning his chest away from her back. The person on the other end said something else, and he growled when Claire's fear increased. "And I'm not giving _my husband_ the phone until you tell me who you are and why you want to talk to him!"

Jim's heart leapt into his throat as Claire firmly declared their relationship to whoever was calling. Claire reached back and pinched his leg when she felt his sudden desire for her, both through their bond and from her body. He laughed lightly, shrugging apologetically as she glared up at him, but a shout on the phone distracted them both.

" _Listen here, you little whore! Put Jim on the phone_ now _, or so help m—_ "

"Who is this?" Jim demanded with a growl, grabbing the phone from Claire's loose fingers. Reluctantly, he pulled away from his mate's warmth to sit beside her. His excitement was being replaced with fury, and he had to consciously remind himself not to break his wife's phone.

Wife…

"Jim! There you are!"

Jim froze at the voice, anger so deep that it made his stomach turn rising in his chest. Claire cringed back from the sensation, confusion and fear pulsing through their bond, and he forced himself to breathe and calm down.

"How did you get her number?" Jim demanded, his voice low and dangerous. Claire was mouthing 'who is it?' toward him, kicking her jeans and underwear off as she sat up and pulled a blanket around herself.

"Well, since I couldn't get through on your phone, I called your mother," James replied, his voice annoyed and angry. "But some guy answered the phone—"

"Yeah, that would be Walt: mom's boyfriend," Jim said, sadistically amused that James had unknowingly spoken to the man who had slaughtered half a Gumm-Gumm army to protect Barbara.

Jim mouthed the words 'my father' back to Claire, and her eyes widened in shock, her mouth falling open.

"Yeah, I gathered that," James muttered bitterly. "But I finally get Barb on the line, and she hung up as soon as she heard my voice!"

"Oh, I wonder why?" he replied sarcastically, seriously tempted to do the same, but hanging on until he could get an answer out of the older man.

"Yeah, I know, okay? Anyway," his father went on, at least having the decency to admit — in a round about way — that he knew he had been a complete ass to his ex-wife. "So, I looked you up on the high school's website; did you know they post the yearbook online? You and that spick girl were voted 'Cutest Couple.' Seeing as it was only posted a few weeks ago, I assumed it was the same girl you said you knocked up. So, then I had her name, so I Googled _her_ number… and here we are."

"Wow, that's some detective work, Dad," Jim growled, annoyed at his father's sudden and unwanted interest in his son's life. He nearly crushed the phone in his hand at his father's racial slur, grinding his teeth together. "Sherlock would be impressed."

"Look," James said with a sigh, ignoring Jim's sarcasm. "I just want to help you, okay?"

"Help me?" Jim snorted an incredulous laugh through his nose, rolling his eyes. Claire crawled into his lap and tilted her ear towards the phone so she could hear the conversation with him. "How do you think you're helping me?"

"I've made connections, okay?" James said, his voice soft with a secretive air to it. Jim and Claire both rolled their eyes. "Just tell me where you are, and I'll come and get you, okay? I know a couple of doctors who will do an abortion, no questions as—"

Jim decided that he would just buy Claire a new phone, but she grabbed it from him before he could pulverize the electronic into dust. Fury — both his own _and_ Claire's — coursed through them, but he was shocked when he felt magic surge from her, and terror welled up in him as he caught sight of the blackness swirling in Claire's eyes.

"How _dare_ you?!" she shouted into the phone, her hair floating around her at the amount of magic she was giving off. Jim wrapped her in his arms, holding her tightly and concentrating on pushing a feeling of calm toward her. It worked; the magic didn't dissipate completely, but her eyes became clear and brown once again. "You have absolutely _no_ right to—"

"I know exactly the game you're playing at, you little whore!" James shouted on the other end of the line, and Jim made a grab for the phone again, but an invisible force kept him back. "If you think I'll let you get away with your little anchor baby tricks, then you have another thing coming! Your sorry ass is going to be back in Mexico before you can say—"

Claire dropped the phone in shock and Jim caught it as her magic dissipated entirely to give way to an agonizing sorrow, tears gathering in her eyes. Jim hugged his mate to himself, and she pressed her face into his chest and cried softly.

"If you _ever_ call either of us again," Jim snarled in a low tone, his hand shaking with the effort of not crushing the phone just yet. "You won't live to see another day."

"Are you _threatening_ me, boy?" James shouted in outrage. "I am _your father_ —"

"You're just the sperm donor," Jim growled, feeling the plastic and glass beginning to crack in his grip. "And I will _never_ leave my family behind like you did. And for what? Some tail? I bet you didn't even stay with her more than a month." Jim took in a deep breath, calming himself in an attempt to calm Claire again. "My babies are gonna know who and where their daddy is, and they're _never_ going to see me walk out the door and not come back to them; they're _never_ going to stare at a bike kit for years, waiting for me to help them build it; they're _never_ going to wonder why they weren't good enough for their daddy; they'll _never_ have to watch their mother work herself to death to keep them barely afloat; and they'll _never ever_ question how much I love them. I won't let them grow up without me. I _won't_ turn into _you_."

There was a snapping and popping sound and the scent of burning plastic and heated metal. Jim growled and threw the phone so hard that when it crashed into a tree, the device exploded into a million pieces and took a good chunk out of the wood. He breathed deeply a few times, his arms trembling as he held Claire's sobbing form close, her tears running down his chest.

"H-how could he think th-that I…?" Claire trailed off with a sob, her arms tightening around him.

Jim cuddled her closer, wrapping the blanket snuggly around her. It was mid-day in late June, so it was far from cold, but she was shivering hard, and he could feel the cold sweat building on the back of her neck. Already familiar with the symptoms of her morning sickness (he randomly wondered who the heck had decided to name it that, anyway, when it popped up at any time of the day or night), he pulled their pack to his side, ruffling through it for a bottle of water and a pack of crackers.

"Don't take anything he says to heart," Jim growled, gently pressing the mouth of the water bottle to her lips. She tilted her head back and brought her hands up to help hold the bottle, taking a few slow sips. "He's nothing but trash. He had the perfect life and threw it away just because he—"

Jim broke off, concentrating on carefully opening the pack of crackers instead of the muted fury swirling in his stomach.

Claire sniffled, giving a watery laugh as she took a cracker from him. "Wanted some tail?"

Jim cringed, rubbing her back through the blanket with his left hand. "I'm sorry; I shouldn't have spoken like that. I was just so…" Jim sighed, closing his eyes against the anger and sadness welling up inside of him. He gasped in surprise, his eyes blinking open again, when he felt Claire pushing her love into him. Pressing his forehead to hers, he explained softly, "He used to be my best friend. My daddy… we did everything together. Mom was in school, so he looked after me. He worked at an auto shop, and he would take me with him; he taught me how to take small engines apart and put them back together. He taught me how to ride a bike. I wanted to be just like him when I grew up. He was the best dad in the world. And now… I meant what I said: our babies are _never_ going to know that pain. They're never going to know what it's like to have their daddy walk out on them."

"He's not, you know," Claire said after a moment. She put her water bottle down and lifted her hands to caress his face.

"Not what?" Jim asked, returning her gesture by cupping her face and brushing his thumbs lightly across her cheekbones.

"The best dad," Claire replied, smiling softly. She leant forward, pressing a soft, open mouthed kiss to his lips. "You will be."

"I think Petunia would disagree," Jim laughed, his heart warming as he returned the kiss, gently licking her lips and tongue.

"Petunia died a hero," she joked, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing herself against his body. "A true Trollhunter 'till the end..." she poked him in the chest with a mock glare before continuing, "but don't let it happen again, mister."

"Never," Jim promised in a solemn voice, despite his wife's joking tone. "I'd die first."

Claire's arms tightened around him and a surge of magic rushed through her. "I won't let that happen."

Jim smiled, nuzzling her neck lovingly, and they held each other in silence for a few minutes. Gently nipping and licking Claire's ear, Jim growled, "Hey."

"Mmm... what?"

"Wanna make another mess?" Jim asked, leaning back to waggle his eyebrows playfully at her.

Claire laughed loudly, and he felt the last of her sadness leave her as she pulled him in for a deep kiss.

 _To be continued…_

 **»** ** _REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!_** **«**


	9. Chapter Nine

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

 _The moment we've all been waiting for…_

 **Chapter Nine**

"Are you ever going to tell me what happened to your phones?"

Jim sighed, not quite used to the feel of the new phone in his hand. It had taken them a month to find an area where Claire could go into a city and get decent new phones, relying on payphones (which were few and far between) to call home in the time between. Given the lack of pocket change available, the calls had only lasted long enough to assure their family that they were safe. The new phone was bigger than his last, which was a huge help for his larger fingers, but it was a different operating system. Not to mention that he only had a few phone numbers memorized in the first place — his mother's, Claire's (which was irreverent now that she had a new phone and number too), and Toby's.

"Mine drowned," Jim explained to his mother on the other end of the line. "It gave its life for the greater good."

Barbara laughed, "Dare I ask?"

"Long story short," Jim chuckled lightly, tugging on Claire's hand in his to pull her around an upturned root that she wouldn't see in the dark. She squeezed his hand lightly, trusting his guiding movements. "A rescue mission gone awry. Mud and water were involved, and my phone said 'sorry, dude, I'm out!'"

"And Claire's?" His mother asked with another laugh. "Did hers drown too?"

"Er... no," he replied, slightly embarrassed at his actions. "I, um... I threw it at a tree, and it turned into a thousand pieces."

"... _why_?"

Jim remained silent for a moment, resisting the desire to release Claire's hand in favor of tugging on his horn in anxiety. He felt a surge of calm from his mate, and he squeezed her hand gratefully.

"Dad found her number and called..." he said in a quiet voice. He knew Claire could hear him, but she merely hugged herself to his side and pulled his arm around her shoulders. "I... he said some stuff, and I lost my temper."

Barbara made a disgusted noise and he could picture her rolling her eyes. "Well, that explains why he keeps trying to call _me_. I'm pretty sure Walt is ready to sniff him out and cut off his gronk nuks."

"Tell him I'll help," Jim said, half-serious and half-joking. "It'll be a good step-father and son bonding experience."

"Speaking of bonding experiences…" she said, her voice stern. He frowned in confusion, not sure what his mother could be hinting at. They had only just gotten their new phones less than an hour before, so he hadn't told her anything about him and Claire being Troll Married.

"Yeah…?" Jim dragged the question out, nervousness building in him — which, of course, then made Claire nervous, which made _him_ even more nervous. "What? _What_?"

"Calm down," Barbara laughed, and he did a bit. If she was laughing, then it couldn't be too bad. "We've got those charms, so we were all talking, and we decided to visit you tomorrow!"

"…and when you say 'we'…"

"Me, Walt, Toby, AAARRRGGHH!, Ophelia and Javier…"

Okay, it was that bad.

"Oh…" Jim laughed nervously, lying through gritted teeth. "That sounds great, Mom… But, you know, may-maybe we could wait… you know, until we're in a better area, and—"

"No…" Barbara interrupted in an amused voice. "I think tomorrow will be just fine."

"Why are you doing this to me?" Jim whined into the phone, only half-playfully. "You could just hire a hitman, instead. It would be kinder."

"Oh, stop being so dramatic," his mother laughed. "Don't you want to tell Toby the good news?"

"You _know_ it's not Tobes I'm worried about," Jim growled, lifting Claire over a fallen tree without breaking stride.

"Honey…" Barbara chastised. He could almost feel her glare through the phone. "You've had nearly two and a half months to work up your courage; it's time you and Claire told her parents."

"We can wait a little longer—"

"Jim, you wait any longer, and everyone is going to know just by looking at Claire. She's going to start showing soon."

"You're really gonna make us tell them in person?" Jim asked, defeated. Claire was shooting him confused looks as they continued to walked. The group had crossed into Colorado in the middle of the previous night, and everyone was relieved to have the protection of the forests and mountains again, so they were taking their time. Even NotEnrique, who usually chatted their ears off during the night to stave off his fear of the dark, was relaxed and sound asleep on Jim's head.

"Yes," Barbara replied, her voice firm. "You two need to tell them. You did this on purpose, remember?"

"Mom…" Jim whined, his face heating in embarrassment. Claire stumbled by his side, and he caught her before she face planted into a patch of poison ivy. "Can you please refrain from bringing up my sex life?"

Claire burst into laughter, and he shot her an annoyed glare which only made her laugh harder. Several trolls around them gave them confused and humorous looks.

"Your _sex life_ is exactly why you need to tell Claire's parents," Barbara said, ignoring his distress and embarrassment, barreling on. "I highly doubt you two are being innocent best friends now that the job is done."

"What do you want?" Jim laughed in embarrassed frustration. " _Details_?"

"Hardly," Barbara giggled. Jim was only slightly grateful that his mother seemed to have come around to the idea of being a grandmother. "But you should be careful, especially out in the wilderness. You know how to identify poisonous plants, right? God forbid you have sex in—"

"Okay, see you tomorrow then. Love you! Bye!" Jim couldn't end the call and put his phone away fast enough, reminding himself at the last minute to be careful of his strength. Claire was practically falling over herself in laughter, and he had to hug her to his side to keep her upright.

"Do I—" Claire doubled over in laughter again, and he couldn't help but give a quiet laugh of his own, her amusement influencing his. "Do I even want to know?"

"We're going to have visitors tomorrow," Jim said, tightening his arm around her shoulder briefly. "As in… probably everybody."

"Everybody?" Claire repeated, sobering quickly as a spark of nervousness entered her. "As in… _everybody_ everybody?"

Jim nearly tipped NotEnrique off his head as he unconsciously grabbed his horn with his free hand. Catching the little troll and pushing him back up between his horns, NotEnrique continued to sleep. Jim supposed he couldn't really blame his adoptive brother-in-law; he'd spent nearly 150 years trapped in the confines of the Dark Lands, tortured and brainwashed to the point where he couldn't even remember his given name. When he'd finally been released, the idea of being in the dark again terrified him, though he had admitted it only to Jim and Claire. For him to feel relaxed enough to sleep out in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, surrounded by beings who had once posed an extreme threat to him… well, Jim wasn't going to wake him.

"Yup," Jim replied to his wife's question with a defeated sigh. "We're gonna have to tell them."

"Toby will be excited," Claire said, her arm tightening around his waist. He laughed at the muted fright welling up in her.

"I'm going to go down in history as the only Trollhunter to have been killed by his in-laws, aren't I?"

"I told you," Claire said, her voice firm, slight anger sparking along their bond. "I won't let anyone hurt you. Besides… my parents are anti-gun, so there's not much they can do."

"Except engage Rule Number Three," he joked, dropping his arm to hug her waist and giving her hip a loving squeeze. "Goodbye future babies."

"No way," Claire said, poking him in the chest. "I plan on getting 3 or 4 babies out of you, mister. I'll protect you."

Jim rolled his eyes, but couldn't help but laugh. "Just 3 or 4?"

"Oh, that's right!" Claire exclaimed, and he lifted her over another fallen tree, raising an eyebrow at her curiously. "I forgot, we're going to live a lot longer now… Lots of babies then."

"Why don't we just worry about _this_ one for now?" Jim chuckled, wrapping his arm back around his mate's waist and placing his hand over her belly. She was just slightly more rounded now and the feeling thrilled him, even if it also scared him. His mother was right — soon, anyone who looked at her would know. "And worry about how we're going to tell your mom and dad."

Claire didn't respond, and despite her outward humor, Jim could feel her nervousness building.

. . .

"C-Bo— oh em gee, is that _Jimmy Jam_?!"

Jim startled awake in shock at the unexpected voice echoing through the cavern, Claire stirring at his side at the shout. When they'd come across the entrance to the cave system 3 hours before dawn, the group had decided to call it a night. Jim had made Blinky aware that his mother and the others planned on joining them during the day, so stopping early to let everyone rest was not only convenient, but needed, especially for the half troll and the sorceress who were going to be spending their normal sleeping time being awake.

" _Mary_?" Jim asked, sitting up on his elbows and blinking the sleep from his eyes. Indeed, Mary Wang was standing in front of their nest, her eyes wide as she stared down at him.

"Oh em gee!" she exclaimed again, dancing excitedly from foot to foot. "When T.P. told us you'd been turned into a _troll_ , I didn't expect you to be… well, a _troll_!"

Jim opened his mouth to reply, still stunned by her unexpected presence, when he was suddenly tackled from behind and lifted into the air. He saw Mary jump back just before he was flipped high in the air and slammed back down to be pinned on his back.

"Brother!" AAARRRGGHH! exclaimed, knocking his horns against Jim's with enough force to crack the rock beneath Jim's head.

Jim growled playfully, flipping the giant troll onto his back with ease. He landed on top of AAARRRGGHH!'s chest and nuzzled the older troll affectionately. Small whines and noises of greeting and familial affection were rising instinctively out of Jim's throat.

" _Dude_ , you weren't kidding! He really _did_ get troll'ed!"

"Steve?!" Jim heard Claire exclaim, and he looked up to spot the former bully, with Eli by his side, standing close to his and Claire's nest with a group of people that included Toby, Darci, his mom and Strickler, and Claire's parents and baby brother.

"Yo, Juliet!" Steve greeted, giving her a charming wink and moving to casually sit down on the blankets next to her. Jim heard several voices rise up at once, but he was already moving.

"Steve, don't—!"

"That's a bad ide—!"

"You're in their nest!"

"He's a dead man."

"Oof!" Steve grunted as Jim slammed the boy into the ground, a threatening growl ripping from his chest.

 _Human, human, human…_ the mental reminder did nothing to kill Jim's protective instinct, though it kept him from seriously injuring his former enemy.

"Dude," Steve gasped, clawing weakly at the four-fingered hand holding him down by the neck. "It's _me_."

"Show your throat," Strickler's deep voice said in a calm tone. Jim barely heard him, pressing more of his weight down on the boy lying prone beneath him.

"Are you insane?!" Steve shouted back to Strickler in a high voice, his eyes wide.

"You must understand that Jim is no longer completely human," Strickler's voice continued calmly. Jim snarled and growled, baring his teeth while Steve cringed and continued to pull at his restraining hand. "And _you_ just walked right into _his mate's_ nest. He's acting on instinct; you're a threat. He won't let you go until you submit."

"Dude, c'mon!" Steve tried to beg Jim again, his eyes beginning to water in panic. "C'mon, you're supposed to be a protector, right? You don't want to kill me."

Jim breathed deeply, trying to force his instincts down. _Human, human…_ He managed to pull some of his weight back, but couldn't release his grip around Steve's neck, though he wasn't putting any pressure on the boy.

"Submit," Jim managed to spit out on a growl. It wouldn't be enough for his troll half just for Steve to apologize. Even Claire's calming influence — which she was practically trying to drown him in — was not enough to override his instincts. Steve had to _show_ submission. "I… I can't… Grrr…"

Steve looked surprised that Jim had managed to speak. Jim watched as the boy closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After a tense moment, the blonde's body relaxed and his head fell back, his throat exposed.

Jim relaxed, his growls dying in his throat. He leant forward to give a brief knock of his horns gently against Steve's forehead, both an acceptance and an apology. Jim released the blonde, shuffling backward, his face heating in embarrassment. "Sorry."

Steve sat up, clearly relieved, and gave an awkward laugh, "Nah, my bad."

Jim didn't have time to respond before he was tackled again, this time by Toby _and_ Darci. Toby greeted him just like a troll, pressing his forehead to Jim's and giving him an affectionate nuzzle, which Jim returned happily, his greeting whines rising from his throat again. Jim was surprised when Darci greeted him in the same manner, but he realized that she must have been so used to AAARRRGGHH! by then that she knew how to act and what it meant. Jim returned the gesture happily, overjoyed to accept his brother's mate into his family.

"Would it be okay for Mare and me to go to Claire?" Darci asked, leaning back from their hug. Jim was grateful that she was asking, but the point was moot when Claire came over and pulled her sister into a tight hug. Mary crashed into Claire from behind, and the three of them squealed and hugged each other excitedly.

Toby was still clinging to Jim, his hug tight. "Just one more minute."

Jim laughed, letting Toby continue to hug and nuzzle him. "I missed you too, Tobes."

"Girlfriend, look at you!" Jim looked over to see Mary and Darci stepping back from Claire. Mary was carefully examining his mate's nails while Darci was looking over her face, pinching Claire's cheeks. "These nails!"

"Someone needs a spa day!" Darci interjected, excitedly, pulling Claire into another hug and pressing kisses to her cheek.

"We're in the middle of nowhere!" Claire laughed, but Jim could feel the happiness pulsing from her. She'd really missed them.

"That was considered," Mrs. Nuñez said, finally speaking up and stepping forward to pull her daughter into a tight hug. After a moment, she pulled back and shifted a beach bag from her shoulder. "So, we brought everything we need with us for a day of pampering!"

"And don't forget the chorizo!" Mr. Nuñez said, holding out a cooler bag that smelled heavily of spiced meat.

"Aye, aye, aye papa!" Claire laughed, letting go of her mother to rush forward and embrace her father. Enrique giggled and babbled in his father's arms, pressing sloppy baby kisses to his sister's face and hair. "I missed you too, mía monito."

"What are you all doing here?" Jim asked when Toby _finally_ pulled back.

"Well, I called Darci," Toby started to explain.

"And I called Mary," Darci interjected, excitedly.

"And I called Steve!" Mary said.

"And I called Eli," Steve said, mussing the smaller boy's hair.

Eli laughed in his high voice, "And we all wanted to catch up, so we tagged along!"

"So, who's holding down the fort?" Jim asked, standing to his feet. Darci, Steve, Mary and Eli looked startled at his new height.

"Oh, don't worry!" Darci said, going back to Toby's side and taking his hand in hers. "Nana and Chompsky have got everything covered!"

"…that doesn't make me feel better," Jim said, gripping his horn anxiously.

"Dude, it's fine," Steve waved off his concerns, crossing his arms over his chest, a haughty expression on his face. "The last issue we had was 3 weeks ago, and it wasn't even a thing. A pixie nest in the movie theater."

"Um, that kind of _is_ a thing," Claire said, her expression taking on a look of concern as she stepped back from her father, Enrique held in her arms. "Or am I misremembering you running around in panic the last time?"

"Hey!" Steve pouted, glaring at Claire. "I was better prepared this time!"

"Anyway," Toby interjected, and Jim calmed at his best friend's relaxed demeanor. "We took care of it; no one was even infected. Now, no more pixies! Relax and enjoy our company, man!"

Jim laughed softly, shaking his head in amusement. The others took the sound of his laugh as a sign to come forward. Greetings, hugs, and kisses were exchanged between the group, AAARRRGGHH! being particularly affectionate to Jim and Claire. The older troll's increased affection toward Claire didn't escape Jim's notice, and he watched in fond amusement as AAARRRGGHH! nuzzled Claire's middle, breathing in deeply and practically purring.

"I thought he'd miss _you_ more," Toby said in quiet laughter, having also noticed the troll's overly affectionate attentions toward Claire, who had handed her baby brother back to her father to keep him out of the Troll Cuddle Zone. "She bathe in cat dander or something?"

"…or something," Jim replied in a a voice so quiet that he knew only Tobes would be able to hear his response. He watched for Toby's reaction carefully while the others chatted with Claire and each other around them. His best friend shot him a confused look, and Jim huffed a laugh through his nose, leaning down to whisper in Toby's ear. "Do you want to be called Uncle Tobes or Uncle T.P.?"

Toby froze, his eyes growing wide. He snapped his head back and forth between Jim and Claire. "Wha…? You — she — I'm… Really?!"

Jim nodded, chuckling as Toby moved faster than he'd ever seen him move in a non-combat situation. His pudgy friend tackled him in another hug, but Jim had barely returned it before Toby was rushing off toward Claire to tackle her as well.

"Oof!" AAARRRGGHH! caught the pair in his big hands before they hit the ground. Jim jumped up onto the older troll's back to look down in concern at them, but Claire was laughing as Toby hugged and nuzzled her just like AAARRRGGHH! had done.

"Tobes, don't smother her!" Jim laughed as AAARRRGGHH! tilted them back onto their feet. Toby continued to hug Claire, and he was surprised when he saw a tear escape his best friend's eye.

"Claire smell good," AAARRRGGHH! grunted, snuffling the top of Claire's head and nuzzling her hair.

"Really?" Mary asked in confusion, shooting them a weird look. "…'cause I thought she could use a shower."

"Hey!" Claire exclaimed in mock outrage, laughing. "It's kind of hard to smell like _Chanel_ out in the middle of the wilderness, Mare!"

Jim laughed, leaping from AAARRRGGHH!'s back to land in a crouch by his mate's side.

"Not sha-nelly," AAARRRGGHH! grumbled, making Claire laugh as his nuzzling and purring tickled her. Jim chuckled, moving to stand again, but he froze in shock and fear when his giant troll brother continued speaking, "Claire have baby inside her."

Silence. Complete silence. Jim had never heard silence be so… silent… before. He wasn't quite sure _how_ AAARRRGGHH! could know what it was that he was smelling, but he supposed it didn't matter now. There was no need to come up with a way to break the news to Claire's parents, or any of the others, thanks to the former Gumm-Gumm general.

"Um…" Toby finally pulled back from Claire, who was frozen in place, her wide eyes riveted on her parents' shocked expressions. Toby reached over to pat AAARRRGGHH!'s huge hand, laughing nervously. "I… don't think you were supposed to say that, Wingman."

Jim's eyes found his mother's, who was standing off to the side with Strickler. The older Changeling was hiding a laugh behind his hand while Barbara was gesturing with her head toward Claire's parents, mouthing 'say something.'

"Uh…" Jim began, easing himself out of his frozen crouch to stand and face Mr. and Mrs. Nuñez. "Um… We… C-Claire and I—"

"I'm almost 3 months pregnant," Claire said, coming to Jim's rescue. She was just as frightened as he was, but at least she managed to get the words out. They were both excelling at Rule Number One in that moment.

"Guess that makes double sense as to why you went after me," Steve laughed awkwardly.

Mary and Darci glanced briefly at each other and then at Claire's parents. Simultaneously, they rushed to Jim's and Claire's sides, pulling Claire into another group hug. Jim relaxed slightly when it occurred to him that the girls were protecting his mate, unsure of how her parents were going to react.

"…3 months?" Mrs. Nuñez breathed quietly, closing her eyes to presumably gather herself together.

"Almost," Jim confirmed, swallowing hard against the distressed whine wanting to rip from his chest.

"So…" Ophelia continued, her voice unnervingly flat. "This happened… after you became a troll?"

"Yes," he replied, eyeing the woman nervously. His eyes darted briefly to his mate's father, who was still frozen in shock, and then back to Ophelia.

She seemed to struggle for words for a moment and Jim could feel a subtle shift in the atmosphere that made him tense up. Without thinking, he moved just enough to block Claire and the girls from view, protecting them with his body.

"This… this _thing_ isn't going to be human?"

Jim bristled, a growl rising up his throat. He felt Claire's own temper fly, but Mary and Darci held her back. Toby moved to stand at Jim's side, and he could feel AAARRRGGHH!'s protective presence behind them.

"Ophelia…" Mr. Nuñez said, finally breaking from his stupor. He stepped forward to put a hand on his wife's shoulder, but she brushed it off angrily, her eyes snapping open to glare into Jim's. "Honey, we gave them permission to live together; this was always a possi—"

" _No one said anything about monster babies_!"

"How dare you?!" Barbara shouted, marching up to Ophelia and slapping her across the face. Jim jumped in surprise and a series of gasps and 'ooohs' wrong up from the others. "My _son_ is not a monster!"

"Cat fight!" Steve whispered excitedly, but Jim snarled at him, and the boy gave an apologetic grin.

"I'll never be re-elected if people find out about this!" Ophelia exclaimed, holding her hand to her red cheek and glaring at Barbara. "It's bad enough that we've lost our only daughter and babysitter to all of this troll and magic nonsense, but now I can't even get anyone else because nobody wants to sit for the family whose daughter ran away with her boyfriend! My reputation is already plummeting and now _this_?!"

"Ophelia," Javier tried again, grabbing his wife's hand in his, but Claire took that moment to break away from the girls and push herself passed Jim. The surge of magic pulsing from her kept him from touching her as he tried to pull her back.

" _Babysitter_?!" Claire screeched at her mother, her hair beginning to fly around her shoulders. "I'm just the _babysitter_ to you?"

"That's — that's not what I meant, Claire!" Ophelia shouted back, ripping her hand from her husband's. She tried to step toward her daughter, but Claire's magic pushed her back. "All I meant was that you have no idea how inconvenient all of this has bee—"

" _Inconvenient_?" Claire exclaimed, her fury rising. Jim was starting to fall into a crouch again, ready to spring at the slightest moment, reacting to her emotions at the same time as he was trying to calm her. "Oh, I'm so sorry that us saving the world was so _inconvenient_ for you, Mother!"

"It's not the saving the world part that I'm upset about!" Ophelia responded, tears beginning to streak down her face. "But do either of you have _any idea_ what people are _saying_? Do you have any idea how that reflects on _us_?!"

"You mean, on _you_ ," Jim growled, unconsciously baring his teeth. He could scent the pheromones coming off of the others and, while there was mostly shock and surprise, Ophelia was the only one truly panicking. She was the only one giving off a scent of pure disgust.

"For the love of…!" Claire's mother screamed in frustration, gesturing almost frantically at Jim. " _Look at you_! You're _not_ human! _It_ won't be human! It'll look like… some sort of _anima_ —!"

There was a resounding _smack!_ of flesh striking flesh, and then Ophelia was on the ground, staring up at her daughter in stunned shock as the girl breathed heavily from the force of her swing. The woman's bottom lip was cut and bleeding and Claire was trembling, terror and fury flowing through her. Jim gasped as Claire's face went pale, and he rushed forward and caught his mate just before she hit the floor herself.

"Claire?!"

"C-Bomb!"

"Claire Bear, are you okay?!"

Jim cradled his wife in his arms, brushing her hair from her face as she blinked up at him dazedly. There was a surge of magic off to the side, and when he looked up, the Nuñez's were gone and Barbara was rushing forward.

"She'll be fine," his mother assured everyone, looking into Claire's eyes as Jim helped his mate sit up. "Just a blood pressure spike and drop."

"Well, that settles it, then!" Darci said firmly, and he looked up to see the girl pound her fist into her other hand. Mary was beside her, smiling widely, the beach bag slung over her shoulder. "You _definitely_ need a spa day with your girls!"

Claire laughed weakly and nodded, brushing a few stray tears away with the back of her hand. Jim whined in concern, leaning forward to nuzzle her neck in worry. She sighed, bringing her hands up to caress his face, nuzzling him softly in return. He could feel her anger fading, even if her sadness didn't, but he could also feel how in love she was with him and how happy it made her that she could feel how in love he was with her. "I'll be okay."

"We'll take care of her, Jimmy Jam," Mary said, coming forward to bravely lay herself across his back and hug his shoulders from behind. She mussed his hair playfully and then stood up and reached for Claire's hands, pulling his wife to her feet. "She needs some girl time, and you need some guy time!"

"Thanks, Mare," Jim said quietly, genuinely grateful for the girl's presence. Shallow as she was at times, he knew Mary loved her friends fiercely.

"Yeah, guy time!" Eli shouted, fist pumping the air excitedly.

Jim laughed and stood to his feet, trying to shake off his uneasiness. "I'm afraid we're lacking in the junk food and soda department."

Barbara stepped forward to hug him tightly and kiss his cheek as the girls walked off toward the direction of the cave entrance. "I'm going to go… _speak_ with Ophelia."

"Mom…"

"No," she said, holding up her hand to stop Jim's protest. "I'll just speak with her, I promise. And… I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Jim asked, cocking his head in confusion as his mother pursed her lips and looked away from him. He could scent the salt of her tears rising, and he couldn't help but whine, butting his forehead gently against hers.

"Of all the reasons for her to be upset…" Barbara said in a shaky voice, her tears spilling over. "I never imagined that she would… I'm so sorry, Jim."

"It's not your fault," Jim promised, pulling his mother into a light hug. "It wouldn't matter when we told her; if that's really what she thinks, she would have had the same reaction."

"I'll make sure no murder takes place," Strickler stepped up behind Barbara, giving Jim a reassuring smile. His wings ruffled behind him, agitated, and Jim knew that the Changeling was just as surprised and disturbed by what had happened. "We'll come back before you set off for the night, so we can spend some time with you and Claire."

"Thanks," Jim breathed, giving his almost-step-father a grateful smile.

Jim was surprised when Strickler returned the smile briefly, and then turned to Barbara. "Might I have a word with Young Atlas privately, Barb?"

"Oh, of course," she replied. She was giving her boyfriend a confused look, but Strickler's expression was calm and reassuring. Barbara pressed a soft kiss to Jim's cheek, and he nuzzled her affectionately before they let go of each other. She turned from them with a smile and walked in the same direction the girls had gone in.

"What's up?" Jim asked as Strickler put his arm around his shoulders, his wing stretching out behind them to cover Jim's back.

Pulling him away from the others, Strickler spoke in a quiet voice. "Everything is fine — at least regarding things in Arcadia."

"What's happening?" Jim asked, a concerned whine building in his chest.

"There's no need to panic yet," Strickler replied, pressing his free hand to Jim's mouth to stem his whine. "These are just rumors, for the most part. Concerning, yes, but there's no evidence to suggest that there's any scrap of truth to them."

"Concerning enough to bring it up, though," Jim surmised as Strickler removed his hand from Jim's mouth, noting the slightly more than concerned look in the Changeling's yellow eyes.

"Hmm," Strickler's brow furrowed as he hummed an affirmative sound. "Yes, well… I've been in contact with some of my constituents — the ones willing to forsake Gunmar's insane legacy — and there have some rumors…"

"What?" Jim demanded. God, he hated how Strickler dangled bits of information without giving details. "Rumors about what?"

"I have a contact on the East Coast who claims to have seen beings that resemble the Krubera, scavenging on the surface."

"Krubera?" Jim repeated, his heart beginning to pound. "But they don't go to the surface…"

"Generally, no," Strickler agreed, and Jim couldn't ignore the tone of apprehension in the older troll's voice. "But there were those who had built up a tolerance for the surface world when serving Gunmar. The majority of them reformed and returned to the Deep Caverns, but there are bound to be remaining followers — and not just the Krubera."

"Have there been any deaths or missing people?" Jim asked, his mind racing with the new information. His mind flashed to the dream he'd had nearly three months prior. He'd almost forgotten it, chalking it up to an anxiety and stress induced nightmare. "Anything concrete enough to say for certain?"

"Naturally, murder and kidnapping aren't unique to troll-kind," Strickler sighed. "It's almost impossible to determine if a person has gone missing via human hands or non-human hands. A non-human won't leave a body behind to be found, making determination even more difficult."

"So, it could just be coincidence?" Jim said hopefully. "I mean, not that murder and kidnapping is okay on any level, but… could it just be panic? Someone sees a troll, hears about a missing person, and makes an automatic connection without proof?"

"That _is_ always a possibility," Strickler nodded, but his expression wasn't reassuring. "There is also more than a few rumors that…"

"Deya, will you stop being all cryptic, please?" Jim groaned, reaching up to grab his horn and tug anxiously. "Please just spit it out."

Strickler laughed lightly, shooting Jim a sheepish grin. "A lot of these rumors also mention a female Krubera."

Jim's breath was sucked from his chest, his nightmare swimming in his mind's eye. " _Usurna_?"

"I can't say for certain," the Changeling said with a frown. "But given that female Krubera almost never leave the Deep Caverns, it stands to reason that she would be the most likely candidate for these rumors. Add in the fact that no one can exactly say that her body is still at the bottom of the Everglade swamps… well, as you said: it's concerning enough to bring it up to you."

"Walt? Honey, we should get going."

Jim and Strickler turned at Barbara's voice, watching as the woman walked toward them, smiling apologetically. Strickler gave Jim's shoulder a light squeeze, and then he let go, stepping forward to meet up with her. Barbara had a blue gem charm dangling from a thin chain clenched in her hand, and it pulsed softly with magic energy.

"Don't badger her," Jim gently warned his mother, coming forward to press a soft kiss to her cheek.

"I won't, I won't," his mother assured him, returning his kiss quickly. He could feel the magic building in the charm and stepped back just as it burst. When the light cleared, Barbara and Strickler were gone.

"So…" Toby, Eli, and Steve were suddenly by Jim's side, and he looked down at them in amusement as Toby broke the slightly awkward silence. "Details!"

"Details?" Jim asked, laughing. Eli's face was red, while Steve had that annoyingly smug and pervy look. "I'm _not_ giving you details."

"Dude," Steve said, slapping a hand down on Jim's shoulder. "International Guy Code says that you have to tell your buds about your first sexual experiences. Especially when it involves a hottie like Claire Nuñez!"

"Ew, no," Toby said, his face twisting as he gave Steve a disgusted look. "I didn't mean _those_ details. I don't wanna know anything about my best friends gettin' frisky. Besides… it's sex; it's not _not_ going to be good. What more do you need to know?"

"I mean," Eli said in his nervous voice, his face red. Jim was surprised that the boy was engaging in a conversation about sex at all. "Maybe Jim's got… pointers for us."

"Pointers?" Jim laughed, ruffling Eli's hair. "You want a half-troll to give you pointers on sex?"

"Fair point," Steve said, poking Jim in the stomach and grimacing when his finger bent against Jim's harder muscles. "He's probably way different than a human man, Pepper Buddy. They probably did it the way trolls do it… however they do it."

Jim burst out laughing. "Okay, first of all: trolls do it the same way humans do it."

"But AAARRRGGHH! doesn't have any—"

Jim slapped his hand lightly over Steve's mouth to shut him up. Jim glanced around quickly, and spotted AAARRGGHH! much deeper into the cavern system, his back to them. He had, thankfully, gone off in search of Blinky and was not privy to their conversation.

"Depending on the species of troll, anatomical structure is different," Jim explained quietly, a little weirded out that he was so calm as he spoke about troll anatomy and sex ed. "Trolls like AAARRRGGHH! are fighters and warriors, so their… parts… are internal, to keep them safe."

Steve barked out a laugh, shoving Jim's hand away. "So, you're like a—"

Jim growled, baring his teeth. Steve shut up immediately, flinching back and tilting his head just enough to expose his throat again. Jim smirked, huffing through his nose in amusement. "If I don't have you pinned, you don't have to do that."

Steve relaxed, a strangled laugh leaving his chest. "Right. Okay."

"So…" Eli said, prompting Jim back to the subject at hand. Toby was standing to the side, his face red as he stared at the floor. "You're a warrior, so—"

"No," Jim replied, his right hand jumping up to tug nervously on his horn. He was amused by their interest, but also embarrassed by it; however, if they were talking about _him_ , it meant that they weren't asking about _Claire_. "I'm not a warrior breed. Merlin said that I'm most closely related to the Huldufólk."

"The what?" Toby asked, frowning and giving Jim a curious once over.

"Huldufólk," Jim repeated, grinning as Toby fell into the conversation, his curiosity getting the better of him. "They're the most humanoid breed of troll. The Hulder, the females, can even be mistaken for humans… except they have tails and sometimes wings. The Huldrekall, the males, look basically like me; they have more trollish features than the females, like the brightly colored skin and the horns, but their bodies are structured like a human's. Some have tails or wings, but it's not as common in males as it is with the females."

"Dude!" Toby exclaimed, excitedly running around to Jim's back. He laughed as he felt his best friend poking various places on his back. "If you have a tail hidden under here, that would be _so_ cool!"

"Sorry," he said, chuckling. "I guess I'm not cool."

"Wings?"

"Nope."

"Damn."

"Okay, okay, okay!" Steve interjected, grabbing Toby by the arm and yanking him back toward him and Eli. "Okay, so, you're structured like a human — check. So, _how was it_?!"

Jim growled lightly, glaring at Steve, though he was more annoyed than angry. "Seriously?"

"C'mon," Eli whined, blushing as he grinned mischievously. "We're living vicariously through you."

Jim rolled his eyes and sighed. "It's… it's… I don't know how to describe it. I don't have a basis for comparison. I guess the only thing that's different than a human experience is our soul bond—"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Toby interjected, holding his hands up in a 'stop everything' gesture. " _Soul bond_?! Dude, you two got hitched, _and didn't tell me_?!"

"I was wondering about the jewelry," Steve said, grabbing Jim's left hand and pulling at his ring. There was a spark of white light, and Steve jumped back with a yelp, shaking his hand in pain. "Ow! What the hell was that?!"

Jim laughed, holding up his hand to show off his ring. "They're imbued with defensive magic."

"Some warning would have been nice."

"And miss the look on your face?"

"Stop! Shut up!" Toby exclaimed, flapping his hands in the air. He rushed forward and grabbed the front of Jim's shirt, shaking him — or tried to, anyway. Jim swayed with the movement to give Toby some sense of control. "Tell us about the soul bond! I mean, _dude_! That's gotta be… just, whoa."

"What's a soul bond?" Eli asked, cocking his head curiously as he stepped forward to study Jim's wedding band. "Does the magic in the rings connect you and Claire, or something?"

"No," Jim replied, gazing down fondly at his ring. "Merlin gave us these so that we could add a human aspect to our marriage, since we can't marry by human standards. They're only imbued with basic defensive magic, but it's the meaning that's most important."

"I can't believe you didn't invite me," Tobes grunted, his voice petulant. "Who was your Best Man? Mervin the Monster Dealer?"

"You wouldn't have wanted to be there," Jim laughed, pushing Toby back with his hand on his head, tussling his hair affectionately. "It was just me and Claire and Blinky. Blinky cast the spell, and it was…" Jim sighed, remembering the initial sensations of his and Claire's souls entwining and binding with each other. Claire must have felt his daydreamy love through their bond, because he was suddenly doused in her own feelings of love and lust. Swallowing against the whine of desire that wanted to rise up out of his chest, Jim continued, "When your souls are bound… you can feel and share the emotions of your partner. I… I can even feel the baby's soul, to an extent. But it also makes it so that…" Jim's face burned, and he averted his eyes to the side to avoid catching anyone's gaze. "…so that we can feel… certain sensations… from each other too."

"Wait, wait, what?" Eli said, his high voice squeaky with excitement. "So… like, you can feel what Claire is feeling when you two have se—"

"Yeah," Jim choked out, wishing a hole in the Earth would just open up and swallow him. "And vice versa."

"Oooh, ha ha!" Steve laughed loudly, and Jim looked up to glare the blonde down for the perverted tone in his voice. "That's gotta make for some _killer_ or—"

"Can we _please_ talk about something else now?" Jim cut Steve off, his face burning in mortification.

"Aw, c'mon," Steve snickered, clearly taking joy in Jim's embarrassment. "You know the girls are asking Claire the same questions."

Jim closed his eyes and tilted his head, his ear cocked in the direction of the cave entrance. The girls were probably just past the entrance, basking in the morning sun; their voices echoed back through the caves just enough for him to faintly hear their conversation.

"…so sweet, you have no idea."

"Aw!" Mary's voice squealed. "Jimmy Jam was sweet as a human, so if he's anything like AAARRRGGHH!, then _oh em gee_!"

"I bet he's one of those guys that makes baby talk to your stomach," Darci's voice sighed softly, almost dreamily.

Claire's laughter echoed lightly. "He hasn't done that yet, actually, but it wouldn't surprise me if he started to."

"Ugh, I'm kind of jealous!" Mary said, her voice playfully disgusted.

"He's the best," Claire sighed fondly.

"What? Ew, no!" Mary said, laughing. "I meant that I'm jealous that you get to take a break from periods! I had a clot the size of a half dollar coin the other day!"

Claire snorted a laugh and replied, "It _is_ nice not to have to worry about that for a while, but my morning sickness is killer."

Jim brought his attention back to the guys, opening his eyes to look at them in amusement. "They're talking about periods and morning sickness, actually."

"What does punctuation have to do with morning sickness?" Eli asked, frowning in confusion.

Jim, Toby, and Steve stared at the slight boy in amusement. After a a few seconds of awkward silence, Eli's expression cleared and his eyes grew wide, his face becoming red.

" _Oh_. That kind of period."

Their laughter echoed loudly throughout the cavern, and Jim felt himself relax. Mrs. Nuñez's reaction didn't seem as agonizing anymore, and Strickler's rumors were pushed to the back of his mind. Their life was so far from perfect that it was laughable, but — for this one day — Jim could relax with his friends, comfortable in the fact that they were in no immediate danger.

For now, anyway.

 _To be continued…_

‡ _A_ _No_ _te on Huldufólk_ ‡

 _Huldufólk are creatures in Scandinavian mythology that are actually more often classified as "Elves;" however, their physical descriptions (particularly the males) fall more in line with that of Trolls. They are beings that are "rock/underground dwellers," as they live in earth mounds, caverns, forests, and mountains. Females are described as seductresses, only recognizable as something_ not _human by the presence of their tails. The males do not have the same power of seduction; they are described as "hideous," but are humanoid in body structure. Obviously, Jim isn't hideous in his troll form, but definitely different in a way that could be described as ugly or hideous by a human. These creatures best represented what Jim now is, so I chose them as his "breed."_

► _REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!_ ◄


	10. Chapter Ten

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

► _Enjoy, my loves. We pull on more Scandinavian mythology here…_

 **Chapter Ten**

"Are we there yet?"

Jim gritted his teeth against a curse and kept up his steady pace, trudging with some difficulty through the ankle-deep ice and snow. Claire was shivering by his side, despite wearing a thick faux fur coat, fleece lined leggings, and heavy snow boots. A water repelling spell kept them dry, but it did nothing to protect them against the chilling winds and the sharp bite of ice in their lungs with each breath they took.

"Because I sincerely thought that we would be there by now."

"Okay," Not Enrique spoke up, poking his head up out of the neck of Claire's jacket. The imp looked up at Jim almost pleadingly. "Just say the word, and the wizard gets a dirty diaper down the back of his armor."

"I'll consider it," Jim replied, smirking in amusement.

"Get back down," Claire shivered, pulling her arms into her sleeves and tugging the little troll back down into her coat. "You're keeping Pumpkin warm."

Jim heard NotEnrique laugh from inside his sister's thick coat, followed by a faint purring sound. Jim half wished he could trade places with his brother-in-law. The imp had a pretty cozy ride, tucked in a cocoon of warmth, curled up on the peak of Claire's swollen belly. At 6 months pregnant, his mate's condition was now plainly obvious to anyone who looked at her — a fact that Jim took more pride in then he cared to admit aloud. Travel over the last few months had been rough, but thankfully uneventful. Jim's mother and Strickler visited every week or two, mostly so Barbara could monitor Claire, who had had few problems aside from her intense morning sickness, and that had thankfully passed two months prior. Their friends visited less often, but they spoke with Toby almost every night, and he would portal to them without a thought, if they asked him to. Claire's father had called her and Jim a handful of times since the disastrous revelation of their baby to her parents, and while Javier had taken to the news rather well, his wife was another story; despite his mother's attempts to get through to Ophelia, the woman had stubbornly refused to speak to or visit them. Claire's anger with her mother was almost tangible, but Jim could also feel her sadness; she was mourning the loss of her mother's love and support. Dagny, who had taken them under her wing, was a wonderful mother-figure and mentor, but he knew from experience that nothing could fill in the hole that was left from a parent's rejection.

"I thought you said that we were close."

"Merlin," Jim growled, shooting the wizard a hard glare, which the old man ignored with frustrating ease. He tightened his arm around Claire's waist when she shivered again. "We _are_ close — close to the _state_. Keep in mind that we have no idea exactly _where_ the Heartstone is, so even if we miraculously get to New Jersey within the next day — which is definitely _not_ going to happen — we still have to _find_ the thing, and that could take weeks."

Silence greeted Jim's ears, and he sighed in short-lived relief.

"…I don't understand how we can be close, but not close."

" _Merlin_!" several voices groaned out in exasperation, and the wizard looked around at Jim, Claire, and the surrounding trolls with a look of affront.

"We'll get there when we get there and not a second sooner!" Blinky interjected into the conversation, his voice hard as he grabbed the petulant wizard by the ear. "So, unless you have some spell that will take us directly where we need to go — which you've assured us a thousand times is not the case — then, please, _shut your trap_."

"…well, how close is 'clo—"

"Quiet!" Jim hissed, his ears twitching as he came to a sudden halt. The heavy crunch of packed snow and crushed ice echoed around them, trampled by hundreds of feet, but it was the odd creaking sound in the distance that had caught his attention.

"Mi amor?"

"Get behind me, and stay quiet," Jim whispered, using the arm already around her waist to push Claire behind his own body.

Jim crouched slightly in a defensive position, murmuring the Amulet's incantation under his breath. In an instant, his silver and blue armor materialized on his body, Daylight forming in his hands. The surge of magic and the familiar blue glow of the Trollhunter gear caught the attention of the other trolls, and they came to a halt, looking around nervously.

"What is it, my boy?" Blinky whispered, sniffing the air. "I don't smell anything."

"It's downwind," Jim said, his voice and body tense. "Listen. Something's moving out there."

As if on cue, there was more creaking noises and the heavy crunch of snow and ice. There was a snapping sound, so loud that it echoed like a gunshot through the trees. They all jumped when a tall pine in the distance snapped at an unnatural angle and crashed heavily into the ground. A second later, several more trees broke and fell, all of them increasingly closer to their location. A slight movement, a discoloration against the dark wood and green needles, caught Jim's eye just before he saw sharp icicles form in midair about 50 feet in front of them.

"Get down!" Jim shouted, just as the huge white creature flung its icicles like darts in their direction. He summoned his shield, and turned and grabbed Claire, shielding her body with his while he covered the both of them with his shield a second before the icicles struck.

"Great Gronka Morica!" Blinky shouted as the icicles made clanging and scraping noises when they hit their targets. There were several grunts and screams, but Jim didn't smell any blood, so he knew those who might have been hit were more surprised than hurt. "It's a Hrimthurs!"

"A _what_?" Jim gasped, peeking over his shield. The landscape was white; movement caught his eye again, and his mouth fell open in shock as he finally saw what had attacked them.

The creature was huge, almost twice the height of an elephant, with the mass to match. It was covered in pure white fur that blended in perfectly with the snowy landscape, and atop its head were two branched horns that flawlessly imitated the look and texture of the surrounding pine branches. Two black eyes glared down at the group as the creature held its hands together, magically forming more deadly icicles out of thin air.

"A Frost Giant!" Claire exclaimed, breathlessly. Jim could feel her fear and the magic rising around her, and hurried to diffuse the situation.

"Wait, wait!" Jim stood to face the giant, allowing Daylight and his shield to dissipate from his grasp and bind back with his soul. He stretched his arms out at his sides, his palms face up, and he ducked his head submissively. "We don't mean any harm. We're just passing through."

Jim watched the creature's feet, tense. He was ready to react at a moment's notice, despite trying to appear non-threatening. After a thick moment of apprehension, Jim felt the Frost Giant's magic fading, and he chanced a glance up only to see the thing now looking down on them with a curious expression.

"…No threat?" it grunted, and Jim relaxed, feeling Claire's own magic fading with a sense of relief.

"No," Jim assured the giant, stepping forward slowly, raising his head while keeping his arms low and open. "My pack and I are seeking a new home on the East Coast, as ours was destroyed. We've come a long way, and we only wish to pass through here to reach our destination."

"Destroyed?" the giant echoed, crouching down to sit like a gorilla, its knuckles pressed to the ground in front of it. It cocked its head curiously at Jim, its eyes roving over the Trollhunter curiously. "Then you are the one who put an end to Gunmar."

"Yes," Jim breathed, though he was wary about saying too much without knowing the giant's own allegiances.

"And the witch, Morgana?"

Jim tensed again, shifting slightly to keep Claire behind him. "My mate banished her from this world."

The giant grunted, studying the entire group of tense and nervous trolls and magical beings in front of it, and then twisted its mouth into an awkward smile, showing off rows of sharp teeth, like that of a shark's.

"Then you and your pack are welcome here," the giant finally said, and there was a audible sigh of relief from the entire group, the snow crunching beneath them as they began to shift their bodies again.

"Thank you," Jim said in a soft voice, bowing low to the giant.

"However," the giant continued, and Jim tensed again, lifting his head to look up at the giant. "I would invite you to take refuge with my own pack for a few days."

"We _are_ in a bit of a hurry, my large friend," Merlin said arrogantly, stepping forward.

"Stop! What are you—"

"You may go on, if you wish," the giant chuckled, eyeing the wizard with dismissive amusement. "But the weather is about to take a nasty turn; a blizzard is on the way."

"Oh, really now," Merlin rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "A little snow—"

Several trolls grabbed Merlin from behind, dragging him back into the group, offering the giant nervous and apologetic smiles. Merlin struggled in their grasps, but one of them had a hand over the old man's mouth, stemming his loud complaints.

The giant chuckled again, his black gaze shifting back to Jim, who shrugged apologetically.

"As I said," the giant spoke softly, its own body relaxed to show that it didn't offer any threats. "You are more than welcome to continue on… but my concern lies with your breeding female. A human will be unlikely to withstand the forces of the coming cold; our elders have predicted the blizzard to be of the likes not seen in nigh on a hundred years."

Jim looked toward Claire, noting her shivering body once again, and then caught Blinky's gaze. The older troll nodded briefly and Jim stepped back, bowing his head again as he differed to his foster father.

"We would be most grateful to partake in your invitation, my friend," Blinky said, bowing to the giant. "Even the hardier denizens of our group would welcome the opportunity to find some warmth and rest, if you are willing to lend it."

The giant nodded, smiling. Despite the frightening look of the sharp teeth in its mouth, Jim could sense the kindness in the giant's smile. The giant stood to its feet again and then shook itself, like a dog shaking water from its fur. There was a ripple across its body, and they watched in amazement as the giant's white fur shifted to a bright and deep blue, easily distinguishable from the snowy landscape around them.

"Follow me."

The giant kept a steady pace for them to follow, and they shuffled along behind it, taking advantage of the path in the snow that its huge feet cleared ahead of them. They walked through the snowy woods for 3 or 4 miles before the giant stopped at the edge of the tree line bordering an empty, snow covered field. Jim watched as the giant pulled something out from within its fur and turned to face a particularly large oak tree to their right. The object that the giant was holding looked almost exactly like a Horngazel, Jim noted, except that — instead of orange Heartstone — the crystal held shades of blue and white, making it look like a chunk of ice.

The giant stepped toward the oak and pushed the crystal into a knot in the trunk and gave it a slight twist to the left. A pulse of magic washed over them, and then the atmosphere in front of them shifted, the air rippling like heat waves in summer. Less than a second later, gargantuan stone and wood buildings stood scattered about the once-empty field, lined and patterned in ways that made pseudo streets through the landscape and buildings. Torches lit up the paths in front of them, illuminating the village — almost a small city, Jim thought — around them. Other Frost Giants were traversing the paths, some blue and some white; some were even taller than their guide, while others were much smaller. The giants chatted with each other, pulling carts of goods along the paths, only stopping to stare at their group in curiosity as their guide led them through the city, directly toward the biggest building Jim had ever seen. It was like a castle or fortress, with wooden doors so tall and wide that it made the giant leading them look like a toddler in comparison.

Claire was shivering against Jim's side, and he hugged her closer to himself, rubbing her arm to create some friction. The wind had stopped blowing as soon as they had entered the magically sheltered city, but it was still bitterly cold, no doubt due to the chill that the giants themselves exuded.

"Come," their guide said, gesturing with a beckoning arm as he pushed the heavy door open with his shoulder. "Our guests stay here, as our elder leaders do as well. You will settle your pack and then the Trollhunter will meet with Koenraad, our Head Elder."

Jim bowed his head, accepting the terms set before him as they filed inside. The entryway itself could have housed 50 Frost Giants of their guide's size, easily. Even with all of his pack (nearly 150 trolls of varying sizes altogether) now safely inside the building, their smaller statures took up only the barest fraction of space available around them. A fire roaring away in a gigantic hearth across the room warmed the area considerably, and Jim felt Claire relax, her shivering easing a little.

"I'm sorry," Jim said to the giant as he led them toward another set of huge doors to the left of the room. "I didn't ask your name. I'm Jim."

"I am known as Aksel," the giant said, glancing down to give Jim a fond smile. "I am pleased to meet you, Jim, Defeater of Gunmar."

"Thanks for, you know," Jim laughed lightly, slightly nervous. "Not killing us."

Aksel chuckled, pushing the second set of doors open to reveal a long hallway lit with torches braced against the walls. More huge doors lined the hallway on either side, but Jim noticed that these doors had much smaller openings built into their bases; doors within doors that were small enough for the members of their group to navigate by themselves.

"I am charged with patrolling the western forest at night," Aksel said. "Many threats outside of tricky weather are present at times. I apologize for the fright I must have given you; as you have seen, despite our concealing magic, our home is rather out in the open."

"I understand," Jim replied, nodding. "You were protecting your family. I would do the same."

Aksel patted Jim lightly on the head, causing his knees to buckle a little under the weight. The giant chuckled again and then gestured down the hall. "Please make your pack comfortable using these rooms; you may use as many as you wish. Trollhunter, you and your mate may stay here."

Aksel gestured to the closest door on their right, and Jim noticed that it held different decorative carvings than the other doors, the etchings lined with phosphorescent moss that glowed in moving pastel colors. Following the arching rim of the smaller door were a combination of Trollish and Elven runes. In the center, glowing a soft purple and blue color, was a carving that resembled two hands pressed palm to palm. One hand was larger and bore 4 fingers that were tipped with claw-like nails, clearly a troll of some kind, while the other was significantly smaller and consisted of 5 fingers.

"A human?" Claire asked, stepping forward to lightly run her fingers over the carving. She jumped back as the moss shifted colors under her touch and the door unlatched and eased open on its own.

"Yes and no," Aksel said, smiling down at Claire. "Each room is dedicated to one of our legends, but _this_ room is quite special, as it bears the tale of Rhetta the Small One and Aiden the Halfling Archer."

Their pack was dispersing, splitting into three smaller groups and wandering off toward the closest doors. Jim hesitated briefly, his gaze flicking between the room that Aksel was now pushing the larger door open to and Blinky. His foster father gave him a reassuring smile and a pat on the shoulder before stepping away to follow one of the groups into the room right next to theirs.

"H-halfling?" Jim asked, turning his attention back toward Aksel. Claire grabbed Jim's hand in hers and tugged him forward excitedly, eager to explore their — warm and cozy — room.

"Indeed," Aksel laughed, watching as they gazed in amazement around them. "Though not the same as you."

The room was only half as big as the entryway, but was still huge. Another gigantic hearth stood at one end of the room, it's large fire warming the room to a cozy temperature. Jim felt like he had been shrunk in the Fergulator again as he looked up at the huge furniture around them. He was sure that the bed alone could sleep 5 Blinkys and 2 AAARRRGGHH!s, so there was more than enough room for 1 Jim, 1.5 Claire, and 1 NotEnrique. Thankfully, there was a carved set of stairs that lead to a platform at the foot of the bed that he and Claire could easily scale. Different types of bows and arrows were mounted on the walls, some crude while others were more sophisticated, most of them sized for a giant's hands. One bow, however, was different in size and decoration. It looked to be made of bone or antler, Elven runes carved into the material, and it was small enough for Jim or a human to wield. The same glowing moss from the door was rubbed into the etchings on the bow, and the string pulsed with a familiar blue-white glow.

"That's Daylight!" Jim exclaimed in shock, his armor giving a corresponding pulse of its own as if to greet its kin.

"Close," Aksel said, gesturing between the bow and Jim. "It's Moonlight, the very bow wielded by Aiden."

"He was Elven, wasn't he?" Claire asked, bringing her hand up to touch Jim's Amulet while studying the bow on the wall.

"Indeed… and half human, as well," Aksel said, seating himself in a large chair carved of stone, folding his hands in front of him as he spoke.

Jim helped Claire remove her coat as he allowed his armor to dissipate. Once freed, NotEnrique jumped down from Claire's belly and quickly scaled the bed to curl up on the edge closest the fire, though his eyes remained wide and wary. After removing their winter clothes and kicking off their shoes, Jim lead Claire up the stairs at the foot of the bed, and they ascended to the top platform. Aksel watched with an amused look on his face as they stepped down onto the mattress, only to find it soft and squishy beneath them. After months of sleeping on hard and cold ground with nothing but a layer of blankets under them, Jim knew a godsend when he saw one. He smiled at the immense feeling of relief and comfort rolling off of his mate as she gratefully sunk into the soft material below them, her hands gently rubbing her rounded belly. Jim chuckled and sat beside her, his left hand reaching across their bodies to join hers, rubbing softly, and he smiled at the fluttering movement that came from within.

"Rhetta and Aiden met as children in the very woods you travelled through," Aksel continued after allowing Jim and Claire a moment to settle themselves. "Aiden had been cast aside by his human and Elven families after the sudden death of his parents and was struggling for life in the snow when Rhetta found him. She was the smallest Hrimthurs ever known; only a head taller than you, Trullhunter, when she was fully grown. Though Rhetta was the same age as Aiden when they met, she was no bigger than a half grown wild piglet; but that did not stop her from pulling the boy across her back and making the long trek back to Niflheim, the village you now find yourselves in."

"Isn't Niflheim one of the Nine Worlds in Norse legend?" Claire asked, leaning against Jim, relaxed and sleepy.

"Indeed, young human," Aksel beamed, tilting his head in an affirmative. "Our ancestors brought the legends with them when they crossed the Great Land Bridges, long before human settlers from the East even thought of crossing the seas. Our great city was named after the legendary world that is said to be the birthplace of ice and cold."

Jim shivered, laughing. "Which would feel like home to your People."

"Exactly," the giant laughed, grinning. "Though we enjoy the warmth and comfort of a fire just as much as your little friend there."

"We been marchin' through snow for _days_ ," Not Enrique grumbled, scurrying back over to Jim and Claire and jumping up on Jim's head to settle between his horns. "Even a yeti would be chilled to their bones after that!"

Aksel laughed again, nodding to the Changeling. "Indeed."

"So, what happened with Rhetta and Aiden?" Jim asked, now invested in the story like a child listening to their favorite bedtime tale.

"Ah, well, Rhetta took Aiden back to her home and hid him under her bed," the giant told them.

"Under her _bed_?" Claire laughed, lifting her head to give Aksel a weird look.

"Yes," he said, his voice light and amused. "As you can see, our furniture is quite a bit bigger than yourself, and therefore, quite a bit bigger than little Rhetta and Aiden." He paused for a moment to allow them to absorb what he was saying, and then continued with the story. "She hid him under her bed and nursed him back to health over several weeks. They became good friends, despite being creatures that were so drastically different from one another. They shared stories of their kinds, and from those stories, Aiden told Rhetta of the archer magics he had learned from his father. When his father was felled, Aiden should have inherited his bow, but it was destroyed — by someone you may know."

Jim cocked his head curiously, barely catching NotEnrique as he slipped at the movement. The imp didn't complain, but jumped over to curl up on his sister's belly again. "Someone I know?"

"Bular the Vicious," Aksel said, his tone grim, and Jim's heart seized in terror as the image of the giant, blood-thirsty troll swam in front of his mind's eye. He may have slain the beast, but he'd had enough nightmares before and since to know that his fear was never going to leave him. He was beyond grateful that Claire had never met the monster. "Indeed, young Trollhunter; Bular's reign in this world may have been in the shadows, but his evil touch affected far too many throughout the centuries."

"So, Bular murdered Aiden's parents?" Claire asked, cuddling NotEnrique in her arms as the little troll purred atop her belly.

"Yes, and the bow was lost to Aiden," Aksel confirmed. "But from the tales he told, Rhetta took it upon herself to craft a new bow for her friend — the Moonlight Bow."

"Where did she learn how to imbue such strong magics?" Jim asked, knowing that the casting of Daylight had taken Merlin _years_ to devise.

"Ah, _that_ is the special part," the giant went on with a smile. "Rhetta _built_ the bow, even teaching herself the written Elven language to carve into the bone, but the magic was imbued by _both_ Rhetta and Aiden. The combination of their different elemental magics made it possible to imbue the string — woven from Rhetta's own fur — with the summoned power of the Moon. Hrimthurs fur is absorbent to certain elemental magics, which means that the bow is not only _imbued_ with Moonlight, but that it absorbs it as well. When Aiden was fully healed, he left the village with no one the wiser to his having been there in the first place. Aiden took up sentry around the village, protecting his friend and her family as way of repaying her for her kindness. He and Rhetta met in secret for years, and their friendship grew and blossomed into a deep love for each other."

Jim smiled when Claire sighed dreamily, turning her head to nuzzle his neck, and he tilted his own head to lightly nuzzle the top of her head, pressing a soft kiss into her hair.

"But on the very night that they had decided to preform a Soul Bond," Aksel continued in an ominous voice. "Bular the Vicious returned to the area with many followers; their intent was to take Niflheim as a Gumm-Gumm base. Rhetta rallied her kinsmen, and Aiden revealed himself to fight bravely by their side. Together, they were able to decimate Bular's forces, but Bular himself remained. Aiden faced the monster, as his father before him had. The Moonlight Bow struck true, landing a crippling blow against Gunmar's heir; however, Bular was far from dead, as you well know, though Aiden had thought the creature slain. Rhetta saw the beast rise and throw his blade toward her lover's turned back and flung herself before the blade. Despite Rhetta's sacrifice, the blade was too strong, impaling both Rhetta _and_ Aiden. They died in each other's arms, their blood spilling to mix together, such as the way their souls were meant to."

"That's awful!" Claire gasped, and Jim tightened his arm around her comfortingly.

"Yes, but," Aksel said, holding up a hand of reassurance. "The blow Aiden struck against Bular with the Moonlight Bow — while not enough to slay him — was enough to cause Bular to retreat. Niflheim was saved and Bular dared not strike against us again. To honor their love and their sacrifice, we have inscribed their story on these very walls and display the Moonlight Bow to our most honored guests."

Jim tightened his arm around Claire again, his thumb brushing the side of her belly. Though he still suffered nightmares of both Bular and Gunmar, it made him feel a thousand times better that he had unknowingly avenged the brave Rhetta and Aiden. "So… even a small blow can be enough?"

"That _does_ seem to be the moral of the story," Aksel chuckled, his voice light. With a grunt, the giant lifted himself from the stone chair and stood, his height still towering over them despite their higher position on top of the bed. "Defeater of Morgana—"

"My name is Claire," Claire said, offering the giant a hand to shake. Aksel chuckled and gave her his finger to shake.

"Claire, then," the giant said quietly. "Are you hungry?"

As if on cue, Claire's stomach grumbled loudly, and Jim laughed when he saw the indent of a little foot kick out against the side of her lower belly. Rubbing the spot with a mock glare, Claire responded, "I guess we both are. But…"

Jim felt her hesitation and apprehension, and came to her rescue. "Do you have any human food? I could go out and hunt her som—"

"Indeed," Aksel laughed, smiling warmly at them. Jim never would have thought he would have described a mouth full of shark teeth as 'warm,' but a lot had changed in the past year and a half. "We have venison and some root vegetables that I believe humans find palatable. The young ones of our kind prefer the taste of such foods as well. I can send someone to bring you a stew?"

Claire's stomach rumbled again, and she laughed. "That sounds _really_ good."

"Then it is done," Aksel declared, bowing slightly to Jim's mate. Turning to Jim, he continued, "I can take you to Koenraad now; he will be very anxious to speak with you, Trollhunter."

"I would be glad to speak with him," Jim said, standing to his feet. He leant down to press a soft kiss to Claire's lips, which she returned happily, and then jumped down to the floor, landing in his natural crouch. "But Blinky is our Lead Elder, if he wants to speak to someone in charge."

"We shall see," the giant said, scooping Jim up in his huge hands and depositing the slightly terrified Trollhunter on his shoulder. Jim frantically grabbed onto Aksel's fur to steady himself as the giant began walking. "For now, I believe Koenraad will be interested in meeting you. The tales of your heroics travelled faster than your physical body."

"Uh…" Jim wobbled on the giant's shoulder with each step he took, and his heart pounded fiercely in his chest. His trollish body allowed him far more balance and sense of self awareness than his human body ever had, but being surrounded by a completely unfamiliar place and unfamiliar creatures had a tendency to put one on his toes. "Uh… well, I wouldn't exactly call it 'heroics;' I just wanted to keep everyone I loved safe. I just did what I had to do."

Aksel chuckled as he strode quickly across the entryway, only stopping for a moment to speak with another giant to request Claire's food. Continuing on to the other side of the entryway, another set of gargantuan doors stood open to a huge room that greatly resembled Blinky's library back in Trollmarket. From floor to ceiling, there were thousands of books and artifacts stacked and scattered in the stone carved shelves. The books looked ancient, both small and large in size. A table in the center of the room hosted a myriad of books, potions, and crystals. Behind the table sat another Hrimthurs, this one a giant's head shorter than Aksel. Its back was hunched over, and its tree branch horns looked like they had seen better days. Its fur was a muted blue, almost gray, and instead of black eyes, two stormy gray eyes glared back at him from an aged face. The creature's wrinkles were obvious, the fur having grown sparse over its nose and cheeks.

"Koenraad," Aksel greeted the older giant with a slight bow. Jim tightened his grip in Aksel's fur to keep from slipping off, but followed his guide's lead, tilting his head in a bow.

"Ah, so _you_ are the human Trollhunter," Koenraad spoke, standing from his stone chair to shuffle around the table and give Jim a once over. The elder was just tall enough to have his face be level with Jim, and he tried not to show how weirded out he was to be scrutinized by a face that was nearly as tall as his body. "Though not so human anymore."

"N-no, sir," Jim confirmed nervously. "I, uh… I chose to give up most of my humanity for the ability to protect the innocent."

"Hmm…" Koenraad eyed him closely and Jim fought the urge to cringe back under the soul searching gaze. He had made his choice, knowing that there was no way to go back. He'd long since accepted his new reality, and he had no regrets over his choice. "Interesting. In all of my 700 years, I have never before seen such transformative magics."

"A wizard and a sorceress travel with them, Koenraad," Aksel informed the elder.

"Casters?" Koenraad asked, his voice astonished as he glanced from Jim to Aksel and back again. "Are they responsible for your transformation?"

"The wizard is Merlin," Jim explained, trying to quell the nervousness rising in him. He could feel Claire's answering emotions along their bond, and he could feel the concern coming from her as she sensed his uneasiness. "He created the spell that changed me."

"And the sorceress?" the old giant questioned, and there was an undertone of apprehension in the elder's voice.

"She's my mate," Jim said breathlessly, his speech quick. "She had no part in—"

"Casters are dangerous beings," Koenraad said, his expression thoughtful and concerned.

"Please," Jim begged, his heart beginning to pound again. "I admit, Merlin is a pain in the butt, but he means well. Claire is new to sorcery, and she has never used her magic to cause harm." Possessions not withstanding, of course.

Koenraad hummed to himself again, then turned back to Aksel and began speaking in a different tongue. Jim recognized it as similar to Trollish, but it was as if it were a different dialect than the one he knew. Some words sounded like ones he knew, but they were all jumbled together in a context that he didn't understand. He watched the two closely, hoping their gestures might give him some clue as to what was being said, but they moved very little. The only comfort he had was in the fact that their voices did not seem angry or agitated. Jim caught the word 'ungabarn' in something Aksel was saying to Koenraad, and he recognized it immediately as the Trollish word for 'infant.' He tensed and watched the elder's reaction carefully, as the old giant had gone silent and wide-eyed at whatever Aksel had said.

"Please…" Jim begged again, the silence in the room deafening.

"Be calm, Trollhunter," Aksel reassured him, giving a light chuckle. "No harm will come to any in your pack."

"Such magics…" Koenraad murmured quietly, eyeing Jim again. This time, Jim stood his ground, held his head high, and showed no submissiveness in front of the elder. "With such magics at play… your child will be unique. A powerful Caster in its own right, I imagine. Unique… and dangerous."

"No," Jim declared, his tone hard. "Mine and Claire's children will be unique, but _never_ dangerous. Even if they develop strong magical abilities, we'll teach them to use those magics responsibly."

"Good intentions do not predict the future, Trollhunter," the elder giant spoke in a sage voice, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"And neither do uninformed speculations," he replied, glaring the elder down. He felt the Amulet starting to react in his pocket, but he pushed the power back and stood his ground in front of the giant's studying gaze.

"Hmm…" the elder giant tugged thoughtfully at the fur on his chin, and then gave a light chuckle. Jim faltered, his glare breaking at the unexpected sound. "Stand down, Defeater of Gunmar. Your mate and offspring are safe here."

Jim hesitated, eyeing the elder warily, "I am grateful for your hospitality, but I won't hesitate to react if my family is threatened or put at risk."

Koenraad nodded as if he had expected Jim's answer, while Aksel's shoulders shook as he laughed again. "We would expect no less from an honorable man."

Jim relaxed as he sensed the truth in the elder's words. "Thank you."

The elder hummed to himself again and turned back to Aksel, saying something else in their strange dialect. This time, Aksel hesitated, glancing toward Jim out of the corner of his eye. When he responded to Koenraad, Jim picked up on the reluctance and slight agitation in the giant's voice.

"What is it?" Jim interrupted, anxiety causing his heart to start pounding again. If he weren't part troll, he probably would have had a heart attack by now. "If you want to ask me something, then just ask."

"Koenraad—" Aksel started, clear disapproval in his voice.

"Is it true that the Trollhunter must answer every request?" Koenraad interrupted, holding up a hand to stem Aksel's protest.

Jim swallowed back his anxiety and held his head high. "Yes."

Koenraad nodded, clearly having expected that answer. "Trollhunter… do you know what a Nøkken is?"

"A water dweller of some kind, I think," Jim replied, trying to recall the lessons he had barely had the patience to sit through as a human and hadn't had time to revisit since becoming part troll. "…a …a freshwater shapeshifting creature… right?"

"Correct," the elder confirmed with a small smile. The smile faded as he continued, "We are close to the body of water you humans call 'Erie,' wherein such a creature calls home."

"It's been causing trouble?" Jim deduced, feeling the Amulet in his pocket beginning to react again.

"A bit more than just 'trouble,'" Koenraad said, his frown deepening. "It's always been rather… territorial; however, the night before last, Henrik's eldest daughter went out to gather willow bark and has yet to return."

"And there's no chance she's meeting a secret lover?" Jim asked hopefully. Aksel jerked his shoulder and Jim stumbled, barely managing to hang on to the giant's fur as he slipped and fell on his butt. "Okay, okay, I'll look into it — but I'm not going to kill anything without proof that it's the culprit."

The elder clearly did not approve of Jim's vow. "Trollhunter, Nøkkens are not creatures that even _possess_ the trait of innocence. They are born evil, they live evil, and they die evil; such creatures must be exterminated without question or hesitation."

"Look," Jim said, his voice firm as he glared back at the elder. "I'm not going to pretend I know everything about all the mythical creatures in the world, but I _do_ know that Nøkkens are sentient beings, and that means they have the ability to choose their actions. I won't kill something for a crime it might not have committed."

"Hmm..." Koenraad hummed to himself once more, and Jim felt the temperature drop a few degrees. After a tense moment, the elder continued. "You clearly did not give up enough of your humanity."

Jim couldn't help the growl that rose up in his chest at the insult, but Aksel jerked his shoulder again. His anger broken by the movement, he managed to bite back the words that would summon his armor.

"Koenroad," Aksel spoke, his voice slow and soothing. "Let us not forget that the Trollhunter defeated _both_ Bular the Vicious and Gunmar the Skullcrusher. His ways may be different than previous Trollhunters, but I believe we should trust his judgement in this."

Koenraad grunted, his angry gaze switching to Aksel, and the temperature dropped a few more degrees. "And _you_ have lost sight of the greater picture, Aksel. One look at a breeding female, and you lose all sense of priority, seeing only _your_ loss and not the preventable loss of others."

"With all due respect, Koenraad," Aksel replied in a harsh voice that had Jim mentally cringing. "It's the 'loss of others' that I'm worried about here. If you insist on sending the Trollhunter out into a blizzard to hunt down a creature capable of gutting a Stalkling, then I shall accompany him to make sure he comes back to his family."

Jim looked between the two angry giants nervously. "What—?"

Koenraad huffed angrily and turned his back on them, waving a dismissive hand in the air. "Do what you will."

Jim opened his mouth to speak, his uneasiness increasing at the cold tension in the room, but Aksel lifted his arm and scooped Jim up in his huge hand. A little rougher than the giant had probably intended, Jim was deposited on the floor and shoved, stumbling, in the direction of the door.

"Go back to your mate, Trollhunter," Aksel said in a hard voice as he stood back to his full height, glaring at the back of his elder. "I will join you shortly."

Jim didn't argue, too rattled by what had just transpired, and hurried out of the room and back toward his own. A few more Frost Giants were congregated in the entryway than before, but they paid him no mind as he ran and leapt across the room. In less than 10 seconds, he was back in front of the mini door engraved with the hands of Rhetta and Aiden. Before he could push the door open, it was flung back from the other side, and then his mate was in his arms, her own arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Claire demanded, and he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her back as best he could with her belly in the way.

"Nothing," Jim said, cringing slightly at the disbelieving glare she shot him. He stepped back from her embrace, keeping one arm around her waist as he guided her back into their room. He smelled the scent of meat and vegetables in the air and looked over to see NotEnrique seated on the floor a few feet in front of the hearth, scarfing down bowl after bowl of stew. Across from him sat a another bowl full of stew, untouched. "I thought you were hungry?"

"How could I eat when you're _that_ agitated?" Claire exclaimed, allowing him to guide her back toward her food. "Tell me what's wrong."

"The elder just asked me to look into an issue while we're here, that's all," Jim sighed. They sat on the floor, the fire warm and comforting, and he picked up the bowl of still warm stew and pressed it into his wife's hands. "Mmm... smells good, doesn't it?"

Claire took the bowl, but didn't eat yet, raising an eyebrow at him instead. "What kind of issue?"

Jim heaved a sigh, unable to hide his continued anxiousness. Even if she couldn't feel it through their bond, he had never been good at masking his expressions. "A girl went missing, and they think one of the local creepy crawlies are responsible, so they asked me to go look for her."

Claire put the bowl down on the floor and made to stand up again. "I'll get my coat. We need to find her before the storm—"

"You think Jimmy Jam is gonna let ya outta here in yer condition, Sis?" NotEnrique laughed, slurping down another bowl of stew.

"I'm pregnant, not invalid," Claire snapped, growling in a weak imitation of Jim's, no doubt trying to intimidate her little brother. It didn't work and NotEnrique just broke out into giggles, rolling around on the floor.

"Uh..." Jim grasped Claire's hands in his before she could make it to her feet and pulled her down into his lap. "He's right."

"Jim..." Claire said, her voice warning. He could feel the anger and worry building up in her, and he struggled to remain calm. "You are _not_ going out there alone!"

"I won't be," he assured her, nuzzling the side of her neck. He felt her relax a little and moved their hands up to cradle her belly together. "Aksel is going with me; but you _have_ to stay here, where it's safe. I'll be fine."

"You're _not_ going without me!" Claire replied, her voice firm. Jim felt his own anger and frustration spark, and it did nothing to dissuade her own.

"And I'm not dragging my breeding mate into a blizzard to hunt down a creature that might have killed a _giantess_!" Jim snarled. As gently as he could, he pushed Claire off of him and bounded across the room, practically seeing red as he tried to calm himself. Most of the time, their soul bond was beautiful, but with both of them so angry...

"I can still help you, Jim!" Claire said, running across the room to catch up to him. She was far from graceful, her balance thrown completely off by the baby's weight, and Jim leapt to her side just as she tripped over her own feet and almost face-planted into the wooden floor before he caught her.

"Are you okay?" he asked, easing her back to her feet. They were both still angry, but his worry cleared his head a bit.

"I'm fine," she replied, her voice still hard. "And I'll _be_ fine; I'm going with you."

Jim growled, and an agonizing idea hit him. Both of their anger was building and it was being passed back and forth between them, making the situation all that much worse; however, with that anger came the ability to mask his primary emotions under a haze of negative feelings.

"I don't _want_ you to come with me," Jim said, gritting his teeth and glaring into her eyes. _Please don't argue..._

"Well, tough cookies, mister!" Claire responded, crossing her arms in front of her chest and glaring back at him. "I'm—"

"You're _not_ going!" Jim shouted, concentrating on his anger and not the agonizing heartbreak trying to eat its way through his chest. "I don't want you to come. I... I don't want _you_."

"...what?"

Jim breathed heavily, trying to keep up his furious expression. The disgust with himself translated well onto his face, and he knew that it likely looked like he was disgusted with _her_. He could feel the shock and heartache coming from her, as well as confusion.

"I..." Jim choked on his words, and he could feel a hot sensation building behind his eyes. Again he concentrated on the lingering anger in their bond and swallowed back the anguished whine that was trying to force itself from his chest. "I wish I'd never let us get this far."

Claire shook her head, stunned confusion building in her. She reached out for him, and he stepped back like he was disgusted by her. "Jim, what are you—"

"You think I actually love _you_?" Jim shouted, stepping back again. The pain emanating from her was so overwhelming that he knew she wouldn't be able to tell that his heart was breaking just as much with each lie he spoke. "I — I'm _not_ the Jim you knew. I'm not some innocent human boy who's head over heels for the girl he crushed on for years. You were _there_ and _willing_ , and I knew all I had to do was say the right words, and you would let me have you."

NotEnrique had scurried over to them and was standing on the floor behind Claire, watching Jim's retreating form with a stunned expression. The changeling shook his head, clearly seeing what it was that Jim was doing. He kept his eyes on Claire as he continued to back away, but when the first sob wrenched from her throat, he turned his back on her and leapt for the door. When the door slammed shut behind him, he had to physically grab his chest with one hand and cover his mouth with the other to keep from crying out. Jim's armor summoned itself after a moment, and he took a deep breath. He felt like he was drowning, dying, falling into a pit of nothing, but he stood tall and sheathed his sword across his back. The sound of Claire's sobbing lessened with each step he took away from their room, but the pain building in them both grew in severity.

It was only later, when he and Aksel left behind the safety of Niflheim's magic barrier, that Jim realized that he was in his Eclipse armor.

 _To be continued…_

╬ _REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!_ ╬


	11. Chapter Eleven

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

Θ _We touch on a little bit of Greek mythology here, with specific inspiration taken from Gustavo Doré's illustration, Arachne._

 **Chapter Eleven**

Jim felt it the moment that Claire realized he had been lying, but the feelings of love she was pouring into him couldn't mask her continued heartache and did nothing to ease his anguish.

Aksel had picked up the missing girl's scent a mile out from the city, and they were following it as best as they could. The wind was whipping around them hard enough that Jim felt the bitter sting of it against his exposed skin, and the snow was coming down in huge, white flakes that would have caused a normal human to go snow-blind.

"What in all the nine realms is that noise?!" Aksel suddenly exclaimed, stopping in his tracks as _Eres Tú_ rung out from Jim's phone. "A siren luring us into her lair?"

Jim gave a weak laugh and pulled his phone out from his breastplate to show the giant. "It's my phone. It's a device that lets me talk with someone who might be far away."

"Fascinating..." Aksel mumbled, leaning down to sniff at the electronic device in Jim's hand. The chorus looped back on itself as the phone rang again, and Aksel jumped back, alarmed. "Why does this person wish to sing to you?"

"No, it's..." Jim shook his head, smiling weakly. "That's just how I know someone _wants_ to talk to me. It's Claire, see?"

Jim turned the phone to show the giant the screen, where a picture of his mate was displayed.

"Fascinating..." Aksel mumbled again, and Jim gave him another weak smile before turning the phone back toward himself.

"Time to face the music..." he mumbled to himself, pressing the answer key and bringing the device to his ear. Aksel seemed to sense Jim's anxiousness and turned away to continue following along the girl's scent. Jim followed, trailing behind by several feet. "Hey, baby..."

"If you _ever_ do that to me again," Claire said, her voice hoarse and thick. "Our second child won't happen until _next century_."

"I'm _so_ sorry," Jim replied, less worried about her threat than he was about her well-being. Despite her love, he could also feel her anger and sadness. "I love you so, _so_ much, but I _need_ you to be safe."

"I..." Claire's voice as shaky on the other end of the line, and he wanted nothing more than to rush back to her side. "I understand, but... I need _you_ to be safe too. We protect each other, remember?"

"Honey, your only job right now is protecting _Pumpkin_ ," he said, his heart twisting at the guilt welling up in her. "Don't. Don't do that. You have _nothing_ to feel guilty about. I know you're not some damsel in distress, and being sidelined is really hard on you, but you are doing exactly what you need to be doing right now. Do you realize how amazing it is that you're creating, nurturing, and protecting another living being inside of you?"

Claire laughed and sniffled, her voice watery. "You're definitely the son of a doctor. Don't forget that _you_ helped create Pumpkin too."

"I could never forget _that_ ," Jim replied in an overly lecherous voice, and she laughed like he had hoped she would. "Maybe we could recreate that day when I get back?"

"Perv," Claire laughed, though he could feel the genuine desire rushing through their bond. "You _better_ come back. You promised me that you wouldn't let any of our babies grow up without their daddy."

"I pro—"

"Trollhunter, look out!"

Jim grunted as a huge force hit him from behind, and he was thrown in the air. The phone was flung off somewhere in the blinding snow, and he could hear Claire screaming his name on the other end. Twisting himself in midair, Jim landed in his natural crouch, his balance thrown off by the way the snow gave way beneath his weight. Catching himself from falling backward, he looked up and then cringed back from the sight in front of him.

" _That_ is definitely _not_ a Nøkken!" Jim exclaimed in terrified shock.

The creature was hideous and terrifying, and he was doubly glad that Claire was not with him, knowing that she would completely _freak_ over the spider-like _thing_ in front of him. It was nearly as big as Aksel and covered in wiry brown bristles. Three legs extended from each side of its thorax, and where its head should have been was a humanoid female torso covered in the same brown hair as the rest of its body. Two long and thin human arms, fingers tipped with needle-like black nails, were reaching toward him, a wicked and fanged smile stretching widely across its face.

"Such a tasty treat," the spider-creature hissed, licking her lips, her eight eyes shining red. "My hatchlings will eat good tonight."

"Uh..." Jim glanced around himself, but he seemed to be alone. Scenting the air, he knew Aksel was still close, but had likely camouflaged himself again. Hoping the giant was planning a sneak attack, Jim tried to keep the spider lady's attention. "Um... hi? Maybe we could talk about this..."

"He he he," she hissed a laugh, a green liquid beginning to drip from her fangs and nails. "The prey bargains for its life?"

"Look," Jim said, holding up his hands in a pacifying gesture. "I get it, I do. It's dead winter, food is scarce, you gotta family to provide for... but maybe we could stick with deer and bears instead?"

"Magical beings are better," she replied, shuffling forward, the green venom leaving a steaming trail in the snow. "You will give my babies good nutrients. They will thrive off of your power."

"Yeah, I don't think so," Jim smirked as he spotted movement from behind the spider.

With a roar, Aksel lunged forward, grabbing one of the creature's back legs. With a sickening tearing sound, the leg was ripped away, white bits of flesh hanging out of the hole that was left behind. With a deafening screech, the spider lady turned and lunged for the giant, but he was too quick. With her dismembered leg still clutched in his fists, Aksel swung it like a bludgeon, smacking the creature back away from him.

With her back now turned, Jim unsheathed Eclipse from his back and leapt into the air, swinging with all his might as he came down. She must have sensed his approach, but it was too late for her. Her eight eyes grew wide as she caught his gaze just before his blade cut through her body like butter. He gasped and cried out as he felt a hand and an accompanying piercing pain on the right side of his neck, realizing at the last second that she _had_ reacted, even if it wasn't in time to save her own life. Landing in the snow, he heard the creature stumble and crash to the ground behind him, dead.

"Trollhunter!" Jim heard Aksel shout his title, but it seemed to come from far away as he fell weakly to his knees. His vision swam in front of him as he saw green and red liquid dripping from his neck and into the snow below him. He could feel an intense sharp and burning sensation clawing its way through his body from the wounds on his neck, like he had swallowed shards of hot glass as a human.

"Oh, _shit_..." Jim mumbled, just aware enough to know he had been poisoned. "I promised..."

The last thing Jim heard before he passed out was the staticky sound of Claire's panicked voice still shouting from his snow-buried phone.

. . .

"It is good to see you again, Trollhunter."

Jim's eyes snapped open at the voice, dredging himself up from the darkness. He was still in a void of nothing, but the atmosphere was different, lighter. Turning toward the voice that had called out to him, Jim's heart leapt into his throat.

"Draal!"

Jim stumbled forward, falling into Draal's outstretched arms (both of them his natural flesh, Jim barely noted) with a sob. He felt like a child — terrified and anguished and happy all at once — being held in the protective arms of a parent. Though he and Draal had been more like brothers, the older troll held Jim close, nuzzling him affectionately.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Jim sobbed into Draal's chest, unable to stop the whines emanating from his throat.

"Shh..." Draal comforted him, rubbing his back with one hand while the other lifted Jim's tear-strained face up to look at him. The big-horned troll grinned, ruffling Jim's hair affectionately. "Look at you, Fleshbag! You could be my little brother!"

Jim laughed and sobbed at the same time, a hiccup catching in his throat. "Draal... I miss you so much."

A rumbling sound that Jim recognized as the troll equivalent of a purr vibrated against his cheek as he nuzzled his face back into Draal's chest. "I miss you and the others as well, Jim, but I am able to keep an eye on you from here in the Void."

"Th-the Void?" Jim sniffled, leaning back to look around them. He recognized the swirling blue energy of the Void, but they were not in the Forge, which he supposed made sense, since the Forge was no longer powered by the Heartstone. "We're in the Void?"

"Indeed," another voice spoke from behind him, and Jim turned from Draal to see Kanjigar. Neither Draal or Kanjigar were in spirit form, looking as real as any other living being. "The Void exists across all realms, though access to it can only be accomplished two ways: an imbued portal object, such as the Soothscryer, or—"

"Dying," Jim realized, blinking more tears from his eyes. "I - I'm dead... aren't I?"

"Not quite, Trollhunter," Draal said, giving Jim's shoulder a light squeeze. "But you are certainly giving it your best shot."

Kanjigar waved a hand in the air and Jim recognized the gesture as a viewing window was opened in midair. An image floated in the center of the energy cloud, and Jim cringed back in shock. It was him, but he looked awful; the Jim in the viewing window was lying flat, his armor and shirt gone. White wrappings stained with red and green were wrapped around his neck, and his normally blue skin was pale and gray, his teeth stained with blood that was welling up from his mouth. The other him was shivering and drenched in sweat, and it sounded like he was having trouble breathing. A movement to the side of the prone body caught his attention, and his heart lurched painfully as he saw Claire dabbing his forehead with a wet cloth. A choked whine wrenched from his chest at the sight of her tears, and he stepped forward, his arm outstretched to her image. The viewing window dispersed as soon as he touched it, and he clutched his hand back to his chest as if he'd been burned.

Turning back to Draal and Kanjigar, Jim asked desperately, "Am I going to die?"

"That is up to you, Trollhunter," Kanjigar replied in a solemn voice. "You may choose to pass into the Void with us, or you may choose to fight; however, choosing to fight will not be easy."

Jim cringed, his heart twisting. "The venom is that bad?"

"It is not the venom, my friend," Draal assured Jim, squeezing his shoulder again. "It is the source of the venom. The defeat of Gunmar and Morgana was a magnificent and well-earned victory, but in their absence, trouble brews. The Arachne you faced is a being not found in the living realm."

"But..." Jim frowned, trying to decipher what the spirits weren't saying. "The Darklands were destroyed, weren't they?"

"Indeed," Kanjigar nodded sagely. "But places such as the Shadow Realm can never be destroyed. Morgana's magic may have been vanquished, but the realm of her banishment still exists and can never _not_ exist."

"She's breaking free?" Jim gasped, his eyes wide as he looked between the father and son.

"Only Claire will be able to answer that question," Draal replied in a soft, gruff voice. His expression was calm, but there was an anxiousness in the blue troll's yellow and orange eyes that Jim had never seen before. "Her connection to Morgana may have been severed, but her connection to the magics of the Shadow Realm can never be cut from her."

"Her magic's been getting stronger..." Jim realized, thinking back on the various instances over the last few months where her magic had risen both with and without her conscious guidance. "Does that mean something really bad is stirring in the Shadow Realm?"

"Again, that is only an answer Claire can give," Kanjigar said. Jim's predecessor stepped forward and grasped Jim's shoulders bracingly, forcing Draal's own embracing arm away. "There is darkness on the horizon, Trollhunter. If you choose to fight, there is a chance that you could face death once more."

"Ha," Jim laughed, giving Kanjigar a weak smile. "What else is new?"

Both father and son chuckled, Kanjigar nodding sagely before continuing to speak. "If you choose to come with us now, know that the Amulet _will_ choose another — and she will not be able to fight for many years to come."

"Not Claire!" Jim shouted, his heart leaping in panic in his chest at the mental image of Claire wielding Daylight in front of the Arachne he had faced. "It can't choose her! Anyone but—"

"Not Claire, Trollhunter," Draal responded in a soothing voice, moving to grasp Jim's shoulder again.

Kanjigar let Jim go and waved his arm in the air once more, summoning another viewing window. This time a young girl, barely older than nine or ten, stood in the center of the image, her body clad in the Daylight armor, Daylight itself clutched in her small hands. She was human, or mostly human; her skin was pale and soft, a spattering of freckles splashed across her small nose. She had long, black hair held in a braid down her back, a lone white streak growing from her foreword hairline pulled back with the rest of her hair. Her ears were slightly pointed, almost Elven, and her eyes were a deep sapphire. Atop her head grew two horns identical in shape and position to Jim's.

" _No_!" Jim snarled, realization pushing down on him like a ton of quartz. His eyes were riveted on the image of his daughter, panic welling up in him at the sight of her clad in his armor, her expression fierce, like she was heading into battle. The image scared him so much that Jim couldn't even find a spark of excitement over the revelation that he was going to have a little girl. "She's not even _born_ yet!"

"The Amulet will choose the person it believes most worthy, regardless of age," Draal said, his tone hesitant, but firm. "You know this from experience."

"No, no, no, no, _no_ ," he continued to snarl in response, jerking away from Draal's light hold.

"Then you choose to fight?" Kanjigar asked, his tone knowing. Jim suspected the question was more of a formality than an actual inquiry, but he answered all the same.

"Of course I choose to fight!" Jim shouted, glaring at Kanjigar. "There's _no way_ I'm going to let the Amulet give _my baby_ a death sentence before she's even taken her first breath!"

The viewing window dissipated back into the Void, and Jim stepped forward, reaching out again as if he could have reached through the image to caress his child's pale cheek. The disappearance of the image filled him with both relief and longing, but the feelings were short-lived as Draal pulled him into another tight hug.

"I will keep valiant watch, my dear friend," Draal promised in a quiet whisper, and Jim hugged him back, butting his horns against Draal's affectionately.

"Thank you," Jim breathed in a shaky voice. He did nothing to stop the anguished whine that wrenched itself from his chest, and Draal hugged him closer.

"We are always here for you, little brother, even if you cannot see or hear us," Draal said, and Jim was shocked to see tears in the troll's eyes. "Give the others my love, will ya?"

"Of course," he replied on a sob, butting his horns against Draal's again, almost desperate for the affection.

"Now, Trollhunter... _wake up_."

. . .

Sucking in a deep breath, Jim struggled to find air. His entire body felt like it was so cold that it was actually burning. He could feel his muscles twitching and spasming involuntarily and each breath felt like he was inhaling jello. He forced his heavy eyelids open, hearing the wet rattle of the fluid building in his lungs and tasting the blood on his tongue.

Blinking back the fogginess swimming in his eyes, Jim was greeted with the sight of a wooden ceiling high above him. A warm light was flickering off of the ceiling and walls, and he barely registered that he was lying flat on something soft. A soft blanket was spread over him, and Jim could feel that he was naked beneath the material. There was a warmth by his left side, a light weight pressed against his shoulder. Something warm and soft was pressed up against his side, moving in time with the sound of soft breathing.

"C-Claire?" Jim attempted to whisper, but the liquid in his lungs prevented his voice from making much sound. Instead, his chest rattled and crackled, and he tried to cough. Too weak to turn his body on his own, the coughing only made the fluid sit deeper in his chest, and he gasped against the drowning sensation, tasting the blood welling up in his mouth.

"Jim! Sis, wake up! Help me get Jimmy Jam up!"

"Wha...? Oh, my god, Jim!"

Suddenly, Jim was sitting up, coughing and retching the blood and infection from his chest. A wet cloth was being held under his chin to catch the putrid smelling liquids that he was coughing up, and he felt Claire nuzzling his cheek gently, the scent of her tears thick in the air.

"Enrique, go get Barbara and Blinky, please," Jim heard Claire say in a soft voice, her free hand rubbing his back gently. Jim retched again and he felt his mate lean into him, bracing his body against hers. He felt the warmth of her flesh against his own, the brush of her breasts against his arm and her swollen belly against his side, and he realized that she was naked too.

"Right, Sis!"

Jim heard the changeling scurry off just as he coughed up a huge chunk of congealed blood and mucus. Finally, his breath came back to him, and he gasped in huge lung fulls of air. His chest was tight, and he could still feel some remaining fluid lingering in the base of his lungs, but his airway was clear now, his body relaxing as his respiration eased.

"Oh, Jim..." Claire whispered, hugging his arm tightly and pressing her face against his shoulder. "Our soul bond was so weak, I thought for sure that I was gonna lose you!"

"You almost did," Jim said after a moment, struggling to bring his arms up to wrap around her, pulling her into his lap. The movement was excruciatingly painful, but he endured it for the chance to hold her against him, their flesh meeting no barriers. He managed a small smile against Claire's neck when he felt a small pulse of pressure against his stomach from Claire's. "Draal says 'hi.'"

Claire gasped and froze, her own arms wrapping around him, under his arms to keep from touching his neck. He could feel the wet bandages wrapped around his throat where they were no doubt soaked with blood and infection. "You... you were in the Void?"

Jim nodded weakly, hugging his mate closer. "How long have I been out?"

"A week," Claire sobbed into his chest, her body trembling almost as much as his. "I could... I could barely feel your soul..."

Concentrating on their bond, Jim poured all of his emotions into it: love, sadness, longing, relief, everything he was feeling in that moment. In his arms, Claire gasped, and then he felt her reciprocate. They sat in silence for a few minutes as they shared themselves with each other, their bond strengthening and rebuilding itself. Strangely, with the emotional strength becoming stronger, he also felt his physical body strengthening as well. He still felt like he'd been dredged in below freezing water, but he wasn't quite as weak as he had been when he initially woke. Glancing down to where his left hand was covering Claire's belly, he noticed that his skin was slowly starting to return to its natural blue tone, though it was still more on the gray spectrum.

Approaching footsteps interrupted the silence, and Claire pulled away from him only long enough to grab a shirt. As she settled back in his lap, he helped her slip the material over her head, covering her torso just as the door on the far side of the room flew open and several people rushed in.

"Jim!"

"Young Atlas, you had us quite worried!"

"Oh, my boy, don't ever scare this old troll like that again!"

"Dude, we thought you were a goner!"

"Jim better?"

"Sorry, Sis!" NotEnrique said as he, Blinky, AAARRRGGHH!, and Toby scrambled up the stairs at the foot of the bed. There was a flap of wings off to the right and Jim looked up to see Strickler carrying his mother, landing lithely on the tall bed next to them. "I told 'em only Doc and Blinky should come, but there was no stopping the rest of 'em once they heard Jimmy Jam was awake."

"It's fine," Claire laughed lightly, grabbing another blanket off to the side and covering her lower half as she moved off of Jim's lap to allow the others to get to him.

Jim cried out as Toby crashed into him, hugging tightly. Resisting the urge to throw his best friend off of him, Jim sighed in relief when Toby scrambled back.

"Oh, my gosh, Jim!" Toby gasped, his expression apologetic. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay," Jim breathed heavily, his lungs wheezing as he tried to catch his breath again.

"Shh..." Barbara leaned down by Jim's side, one hand rubbing his shoulder while the other caressed his face, feeling his forehead. "Still feverish... but not nearly as bad as before. How do you feel?"

"Considering that I was talking with Kanjigar and Draal about whether or not to pass into the Void 20 minutes ago, pretty good," Jim attempted to joke, but the others gasped, staring at him in horror.

"You spoke with Draal?" Blinky whispered in a thick voice and Jim looked up to see his foster father's six eyes tearing up. "They gave you the choice of death?"

Jim nodded, guilt welling in him at their terrified expressions. Claire leaned into his side and nuzzled his shoulder.

"Why would they give you a choice?" Strickler wondered aloud, his wings ruffling behind him in agitation. "Death isn't usually something one has a choice in — even for Trollhunters."

"They said..." Jim struggled past the pain in his chest to speak louder than a whisper. "They said that... the Shadow Realm was stirring... that trouble was coming."

"Morgana?" Claire asked breathlessly, her eyes wide.

"I don't know," he replied, grasping her hand in his. "They said you're the only one who can tell."

Claire frowned, her eyes downcast as she seemed to search herself. "I... I don't feel _her_ , but... the darkness... the darkness is closer."

"The Arachne was a creature from the Shadow Realm," Jim stated, and he jerked his head up as a thought occurred to him. "The girl... did Aksel find...?"

Blinky nodded, a look of deep sadness on his face. "And the Nøkken and various other magical beings... all dead. The Arachne nest was burned to prevent the creatures from spreading."

He hung his head, his heart wrenching. "I'm _so_ sorry."

"Not Jim's fault," AAARRRGGHH! said in his gruff, yet gentle voice. "They dead long time before found."

"But it makes no sense," Strickler said, beginning to pace across the wide mattress. Barbara was watching her boyfriend with a concerned expression. "Not that I'm not glad that you're still with us, Young Atlas, but it's not like the Amulet wouldn't have chosen another — why would they give you a choice in the matter?"

"Because they knew I would demand it, probably," Jim said, closing his eyes as the images Draal and Kanjigar had shown him in the Void swam in his mind's eye. His heart pounding, he opened his eyes again to look up at the others, concentrating on Claire's warmth by his side. "They showed me who would be chosen, if I decided to pass on. They knew I would never let her be placed in that danger."

"Claire?" Blinky gasped, his eyes widening in shock. Claire went rigid at his side, and he could feel the shock and fear building in her. "That makes even less sense. Not that you aren't powerful, Fair Claire, but a sorceress has no need of magic that is the exact opposite of her natural element."

"I..." Claire was at a loss as to what to say, her fear building as she looked up at Jim. He wrapped his arm around her, hugging her to his side and nuzzling the top of her head.

"It wasn't Claire," he said in an anguished voice, his throat tightening painfully. His four fingered right hand came around to rest shakily on his mate's rounded belly, feeling the slight movements from within. "It was our daughter."

There was a stunned heartbeat of complete silence, and then all hell broke loose.

"What?!"

"But she's a baby!"

"I'll kill that fuckin' wizard!"

"Of all the insane notions—"

"Baby can't be protector..."

"What is she gonna do? Throw a dirty diaper at the enemy?"

"Stop!" Claire's voice rung out over the din, stemming the tide of shocked and angry voices. She was still leaning into Jim's side, but her head was held high, her hair lifting slightly around her as her magic began to rise. "Enough! _I_ will deal with Merlin later. Right now, Jim is still sick and all of this chaos isn't helping!" No one dared argue with the sorceress, and Jim couldn't help but smile weakly, purposefully pushing a feeble sensation of desire along their bond. She pinched his arm, but didn't look away from the others as she began dishing out orders. "Toby, AAARRRGGHH!, please go see if you can find some food and water for Jim; Blinky, will you see if the Frost Giants have anything to help clear his lungs? Enrique, I know you're itching to go strangle Merlin, but please stay here with us, okay? Barbara might need your help after she looks over Jim."

The others nodded and went about their tasks. A few moments later, only Strickler, Barbara, and NotEnrique remained with Jim and Claire, and Jim breathed in relief. Liquid caught in his throat, and he began coughing again, lifting his hand from Claire's belly to cover his mouth, catching the blood and mucus in his palm. "Ugh, that's disgusting."

Barbara took his hand when his coughing fit was finished and peered down at the brown, yellow, and green gunk congealing in his palm. "It actually looks better than it has been. The blood isn't bright anymore, meaning there's no fresh bleeding. The infection still looks pretty nasty."

Lifting her hands to Jim's neck, she gently began to unfurl the bandages, and he nearly gagged at the rotting smell that rose up from his flesh. "Oooh, that does _not_ smell good."

"It's not," Strickler said, moving to kneel down next to Barbara, also examining the wounds on his throat. "I can see your jugular."

Jim startled, his eyes wide, and he swallowed against the distressed whine building in his chest. From the way his almost-step-father cringed, Jim guessed that he could see the movement from the outside. "That's definitely not good."

"The flesh became necrotic, but the internal muscles and arteries are healing well," Barbara said, her light fingers pressing on certain spots on his neck. Jim cringed back when she touched an especially painful spot, and she murmured a soft apology before turning to NotEnrique. "Honey, would you please fetch my bag from our room? I want to reapply the salve and new bandages."

"Sure thing, Doc!" NotEnrique stood tall, puffing his chest out in pride. "You can count on me!"

"Leave Merlin alone," Claire reminded her little brother gently, and the imp gave her an annoyed look, but nodded and scampered off.

"Am I gonna make it?" Jim asked, his voice light as he gave his mother a frail grin.

"Not without some more battle scars," she replied, her hands moving to trace the scar over his heart.

"No biggie, then," Jim said, falling into another coughing fit. After spitting up more disgusting liquid and thoroughly exhausting the little energy he had, he leaned heavily against Claire, and sighed apologetically, "Help me lie down?"

"Yeah," Claire murmured, pressing a kiss to his cheek. She and Barbara helped him lie down on his side opposite his exposed wound. His head was pounding, his chest tight and rattling, and his whole body ached. Claire was caressing his face gently, likely feeling the exhaustion pulling at him again. "Rest, mi amor."

Jim didn't argue, but he was too uncomfortable to actually sleep. He fell into a light doze, aware enough to feel Claire lying along his front and the warmth of his mother's body by his back. He heard the others coming and going, murmuring quietly to each other, and he felt his mother spreading something that stung and smelled like chemicals into his wound before covering it with new bandages. Another salve was rubbed onto his chest and the strong scent of mint and rosemary eased the pain in his chest, his breathing coming easier. Someone managed to get him to swallow some water and take a few bites of some kind of human food; it tasted terrible, but it was small and soft enough for him to swallow without difficulty. At some point, he must have fallen into a deeper sleep because the next time he opened his eyes, the room was darker than before, and he and Claire were alone.

"Hey," Jim croaked when he saw Claire watching him, lying on her side so that they faced each other.

"Hi," she whispered back, and he felt her fingers caressing his chest softly. "Feel better?"

"I can breathe again," he said, giving her a weak grin. "That's important, right?"

Claire chuckled, leaning forward to press her lips to his, but he pulled back, cringing at the affronted look on her face. "Sorry... You don't want to kiss me right now... my mouth tastes like a body dump."

Laughing again, Claire pressed her lips to his forehead instead, and he sighed happily, even if he still felt like his body was running on empty. "So... a girl, huh?"

"Yeah," Jim replied, moving slightly to wrap his arm around his mate and cradle her gently against his body, and she nuzzled her face into his chest. "Guess the surprise is ruined."

He felt her lips pull into a smile against his skin, her hand moving down his body to brush sensually against his bare hip. "Just throw me a really good baby shower, and we'll call it even."

Jim huffed a laugh through his nose, tightening his arm around Claire. "I love you so, _so_ much. I'm _so_ sorry for... for saying all that shi—"

"Don't," Claire murmured, tapping her fingers against his hip. "I knew you were lying; it was just the shock of—"

She broke off and Jim cringed at the heartache spreading from her. "No, I never should have said it at all. I knew you would know I was lying, and I was banking on that, but there were a thousand other options that I could have — and _should have_ — taken. I was being stupid and childish and... God, I'm so sorry, Claire. Especially since it could have been the last thing I ever said to you..."

"Don't," Claire repeated, her voice thick, and he could taste the salt of her tears as she ignored his protests and leaned up to press her mouth insistently to his. He couldn't help but respond when she licked softly at his lips, and he opened his mouth for her, their tongues and lips massaging each other's gently.

"Oh..." Jim sighed when Claire pulled back and he saw her lips spread with dark liquid. Bringing his hand up to try and wipe away the blood with his thumb, she smiled into his hand, licking her lips lightly. "Honey, don't do that..."

"It's only you," she whispered, pressing another kiss to his mouth.

Jim relaxed into her attentions, his hand moving to cradle the back of her neck as they kissed almost lazily. He only offered a barely murmured protest when her hand wandered from his hip to his front, caressing him with light, but purposeful movements. When he tried to reciprocate with a shaking hand, she twisted her body in a way that kept her lower half away from his reach.

"Relax," Claire whispered against his lips. "Come for me..."

"Mm," he sighed an affirmative, trying to swallow back the foul combination of liquids in his mouth to limit his mate's exposure to it.

Jim's body was heavy and aching, and he knew that Claire could tell that it wasn't going to be an earth-shattering orgasm, but it still felt nice, so he heeded her and let his wife take control. The moment he gave in, his body released, and he and Claire both gasped into each other's mouths as the pleasurable sensations washed through them, slow and lazy. Her trembling hand froze on him, her mouth falling open as he spilled against her stomach, her own orgasm triggered by his.

"...definitely feel better now," Jim breathed after a few moments, and Claire laughed against his mouth.

"Me too."

Blinking his eyes open, Jim laughed as he caught sight of his mate leaning back to lick her hand clean. "You call me a perv?"

"It's only you," she repeated in the same soft voice, offering her hand to him. "Want some?"

"I'd rather have you, but I don't think I can move," Jim chuckled, appeasing her by taking a few licks off of her fingers. He might have reacted differently as a human, but as a troll he didn't mind the taste of himself, though he preferred when it was mixed with her.

"...you said they _showed_ you her..." Claire murmured quietly as they snuggled into each other, tucking her head under his chin almost shyly. "...will she be a sorceress?"

Jim shook his head, frowning. "I don't know. I only saw her image. She was... a child — just a little girl... but she was in my armor, and... God, it looked like was going into battle..."

Claire pulled her head back to look up at him in horror. "Battle?!"

"That's _not_ going to happen," he vowed, his voice firm. "I won't let that happen." Claire relaxed, trusting the promise in his words. Still, he could feel that she was still nervous about something. "What is it?"

"But you don't know if she'll have magical abilities?"

"Claire..." something about the anxiousness she was feeling and the insistence in her question reminded Jim of Koenraad's warning. "Did that old bastard say something to you?"

"Probably not a good idea to call the people hosting us names," Claire said, giving a weak smirk.

"Did he say something?" Jim repeated, grasping her still sticky hand in his and holding it to his chest. "Did he threaten you? Did he threaten her?"

"No..." Claire murmured, squeezing his hand gently. "Not... not directly."

"What did he say?" He struggled to sit up, but she kept her grip on his hand tight, keeping him lying down with her. He suspected he wouldn't have had the strength to take more than 2 steps, anyway. "Claire, if he—"

"Shh..." Claire whispered, pressing her lips to his in a chaste kiss. "He didn't threaten us, but he seemed worried... about my power... and Pumpkin's. He... he only said... he said he would do what it takes to protect his people."

Jim growled, rage sparking in him. "If he so much as _looks_ at you the wrong way—"

"Hey, hey..." Claire pressed another kiss to his mouth to stem his anger, pulling his hand down to hold her belly together. "As soon as you're healed, we're outta here, and we can concentrate on the next disaster, okay? And we're so close... we'll be home soon."

A smile pulled at the corners of his mouth, her calming influence easing his anger. "Wherever you are is home to me."

"Cornball."

They stared at each other in love struck silence for a moment, and then they broke into giggles. The sound was childish and fanciful, and echoed in Jim's ears long after they'd fallen silent again, sleep pulling them back under.

James Lake, Jr. was the Trollhunter; the protector of both the mythical and human worlds; the Bular Slayer; Gunmar's Bane; the husband and mate of the sorceress who had defeated Morgana; a soon-to-be father...

...but for that moment, he and Claire were just 2 sixteen-year-olds, hopelessly in love with each other.

 _To be continued..._

Θ _Come on, guys, did you really think Claire wouldn't call Jim out on his BS? ;)_

╬ _REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!_ ╬


	12. Chapter Twelve

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

Θ _A shorter chapter this time, but it sets up for some in-depth conflict. As an aside, if you haven't read the Trollhunter books (the series based ones), I highly recommend them. They're not junior novelizations; they actually add a lot of background information and plot. For example, did you know that there was a Trollhunter called 'Tellad Urr the Terrible,' who rebelled against his duty as protector and began killing and tormenting trolls and humans alike? You learn a lot about the Trollhunters of the past and a lot about what the Amulet can actually do. Without further adieu: enjoy, my loves!_

 **Chapter Twelve**

The Arachne's venom had really taken a number on Jim, and no one was too happy about being stalled in their journey. The infection in his lungs was almost rabid; while his mother had assured Jim that he had been in significantly worse shape when he was unconscious, he had never been this sick in his life — and that included being shot nearly dead with Morgana's death magic. His wounds then had ripped through him, tearing him apart from the outside in, but they hadn't been poisoned and there had been no deep set infection. Whatever the Arachne's venom was composed of, it was clearly designed to incapacitate its victims before killing them. Jim highly suspected that it was his toughened troll body that had prevented his insides from becoming completely liquidized; even choosing to live and fight would have been a moot point if his body had been unable to sustain his soul.

"Ugh, stupid fever..." Jim mumbled in frustration, leaning heavily against Claire as she guided him back toward the fort and their room. He couldn't even manage to get to the bathroom (more of a latrine dug out behind a copse of trees halfway across the city and covered in yellow snow) and back without help. The last time he'd tried, he'd made it out only to pass out face first into a patch of poison oak. Thankfully, he'd been found and washed up before the rash could really set in. "This is mortifying."

Claire laughed, giving a valiant effort in supporting his weight, but he couldn't ignore the way his body caused her knees to bend slightly. "You'll be helping me do these things soon enough; you already have to put my shoes on for me."

"That's different," he grunted, trying to adjust his weight to take more of it on himself. His knees nearly buckled, and his lungs tickled, a hacking cough convulsing his body. "Stupid cough."

"Oh, hush, Mr. Trollhunter," his mate laughed again, squeezing her arm around his waist as they continued to shuffle forward. "You don't have to be a warrior all the time, you know?"

Frost Giants of all sizes, sexes, and ages towered over them as they maneuvered their way back. For the most part, they were ignored, but a few of them granted smiles or 'hellos,' while a few stopped to inquire about his health. The children were the most social with them, and that was fine by Jim; kids didn't know to be prejudiced or to worry over their strange visitors. They had seen little of the Lead Elder, but the few times Jim had awoken in the middle of the day, he had spotted the elder giant watching them through the slightly ajar door, eyeing his sleeping wife with a skeptical look. Koenraad would disappear before Jim could muster the energy to growl, but the house arrest like watch did _not_ make him feel any better.

"Ah, Trollhunter!" Jim and Claire stopped at the familiar voice, turning and looking up to see Aksel, his fur non-camouflaged and blue, stepping toward them. Without warning, he scooped them into his hands, and they collapsed into his palms, startled. "Might I have a word?"

"Um..." Claire clung to Jim, squeezing her eyes shut, having seen how high up they were. Jim chuckled, though he was as equally freaked out over being manhandled like a child's action figure. "I suppose we don't have a choice?"

"Oh," Aksel said, looking down at them sitting in his hands, his expression sheepish. "I do apologize, Lady Claire. May I speak with you both? I will not make you, if you wish to be left alone right now." As testament to his promise, the giant bent down to give them the chance to step down from his palms, letting them go.

Instead, Jim put his hand on the giant's thumb, patting it like he would a friend's shoulder. "It's fine, Aksel. We can talk... just ask first next time, okay?"

"Of course," Aksel said, still looking sheepish. "You are so small, I sometimes think of you as children. I apologize."

Claire laughed, her grip on Jim easing a little as they sat in the gentle cradle of Aksel's hands. "I haven't really felt 'small' lately."

"When my mate was carrying, she had the same complaints," Aksel said with a small chuckle, his gaze fond as he looked down at Claire. "I imagine some things remain true across all species."

Something about the giant's words seemed off to Jim, but he couldn't quite place the tone in the giant's voice. He remembered Koenraad's argument with Aksel, how the elder giant had harshly referred to Aksel's 'loss;' through curious, Jim hadn't pried for more information. The context alone had been enough to give him some hint as to what that 'loss' might have been.

"You have kids?" Claire asked, smiling up at the giant, unaware of the thoughts rushing through Jim's head. She shot Jim a concerned look when she felt his nervousness at her question.

"Ah," Aksel croaked, his voice thick. He smiled down at them sadly. "No. My mate was birthing when we came under attack by a warring tribe... I left her side to fight; when I returned..."

Aksel trailed off, his voice breaking. Jim felt guilt rise up in his mate, as she hurriedly tried to apologize. "Oh, Aksel, I'm _so_ sorry; I didn't mean to—"

"It's quite all right, Lady Claire," the giant replied with a tender smile. "It happened many decades ago."

"Is..." Jim hesitated a moment, warring with his curiosity as Aksel carried them down a maze of streets. "Is that why you disagreed with Koenraad about asking me to look into the Nøkken?"

"Mmm," Aksel hummed, his expression tightening uncomfortably. "It's just... had I not left Hella when she was most vulnerable... perhaps she and our son would still be here today. Maybe my perspective is biased, as Koenraad suggests, but I will not stand by and allow a family to be torn apart, if I can help it — and that brings us to the subject I wished to discuss with you both."

Jim and Claire looked nervously at each other. Aksel had carried them back to the fort and back to their room. As he spoke, he brought them down to the bed, allowing them to slip from his hands gently.

"Is something wrong?" Jim asked, looking up at the giant's concerned face with a slight thrill of fear. Still feverish and weak, he tried to casually sit down, but it was more like an awkward tumble.

Bracing him, Claire steadied him in a sitting position before crawling into his lap and also looking up at Aksel. "If Koenraad wants Jim to look into something else, he'll have to wa—"

"It is not that," Aksel said quietly, seating himself in the stone chair next to the bed. He took a deep breath, steepling his fingers together in front of his as he seemed to gather his thoughts. "There has been... an incident, I think."

Jim startled, his eyes wide. "What? Has someone in our pack done something?"

"Yes and no," Aksel stated, his voice uncomfortable. "I did not think much of it, at the time, but..."

The giant trailed off, seemingly lost in thought, and Jim felt Claire's magic beginning to rise with her anxiousness. "It's Merlin, isn't it? What has he done? I'll—"

"It does indirectly involve him, yes," Aksel said, but the look he was giving Claire was calmer than before, indicating that the foolish wizard at least hadn't done anything to cause damage. "But first, I must tell you... a month or so before your pack's arrival, we were approached by another pack of mismatched trolls, much like your group; however, they were significantly smaller in numbers than your own. They did not stumble upon us as you had — they sought us out, having somehow garnered our location."

"How?" Claire asked, and Jim rubbed her back, attempting to calm her building worry. "I thought Niflheim's location was a complete secret to outsiders? Even Blinky didn't know it existed."

"I'm not quite sure _how_ ," the giant replied, his voice lilting in his own wonder over the same question. Shaking his head of a thought, he continued, "but they were friendly enough and brought offerings to present to Koenraad and the other elders, so they were treated cordially, as you were. I am not an elder, but — as I'm sure you can imagine — when you know the same names and faces for hundreds of years, there's no need for secrets. They discussed many things, but one subject that came up was that of the human Trullhunter."

Jim stiffened, startled by this revelation. He sucked in a shallow breath, and his chest rattled uncomfortably, but he bit his tongue against the urge to cough. Clearing his throat a little, Jim choked out, "M-me? Were they see-seeking me?"

Aksel shook his head, frowning, "Yes — but for what reason, I cannot say. They did not seem urgent in their request, but they urged caution with you. Their elder, specifically, stressed the... 'unnaturalness' related to a human Trollhunter. Clearly, she was unaware of your change, though I doubt—"

"Wait, wait... 'she'? Jim asked, his heart beginning to pound. Strickler's rumors crept up the back of his mind. There had been nothing substantiated since then, but... "Was she a Krubera?"

Claire gasped in his lap, her head jerking up to look widely into Jim's eyes. He had told her about Strickler's concerns; he'd given up keeping secrets from her after his disaster of a foray into the Darklands. "Usurna?"

"She did not give her name," Aksel replied, his voice inflected in apology. "...and I am not quite sure what a 'Krubera' is; as you've seen, our race is a restricted one."

"Like our friend, AAARRRGGHH!," Claire explained, waving her hands in an arcing motion to symbolize tall and big. "Only she would be more of a purple color with blue, bioluminescent markings."

Aksel cocked his head to the side, frowning. "She _was_ rather big, like your friend, but I cannot tell you more than that. She camouflaged herself in mud and tar."

Jim sighed, but accepted the answer. Aksel had been nothing but kind to them and as honest as he possibly could be. "Okay... so, what does that have to do with whatever Merlin inadvertently did?"

"Your Caster..." Aksel began in an awkward voice. "I believe he meant well, but... well, he sought to entertain some of the children with his magics—"

"What did he blow up?" Jim asked in a flat voice, but to his relief, the giant laughed.

"No, no..." Aksel chuckled, Jim and Claire both relaxing a bit at the humor in the giant's tone. "He did no harm; he changed a worm into a bird and summoned ice and fire to his fingertips — mere tricks meant to make the children wonder and laugh."

"He has his moment," Claire muttered, a grudging smile alighting her features. Jim chuckled, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head.

"Indeed," Aksel agreed, nodding. "But — again, as you've likely noticed — the elders are wary of Casters. I'm afraid Koenraad witnessed him, and may have... acted rashly."

Jim gasped again, irritating his chest, but continued to speak urgently, "Did he do something to Mer—"

"When the other pack left," Aksel spoke over Jim, holding a hand up to stem his urgency. "Their elder left a totem behind with Koenraad. She told him that, should the need for her assistance arise, the totem could be used to call upon her. I... I saw Koenraad with it just after the incident with your Caster."

"If their elder _is_ Usurna..." Claire went rigid in Jim's arms, and he could feel her panic rising as he watched her eyes go wide.

"We need to leave," Jim said, forcing himself to stand and pull Claire to her feet. His body shook with the effort, but the adrenalin coursing through him kept him from collapsing. " _Now_."

Without a word, Claire started haphazardly throwing their scattered belongings into their pack. To Jim's surprise, he suddenly found himself in his armor, though he hadn't summoned it. The Amulet on his chest ticked and pulsed with a more intense energy than he had felt before, and he felt his weakened body stabilizing itself. Apparently, _now_ the Amulet decided to be helpful.

"Is this woman that much of a threat?" The giant asked, his voice alarmed as he stood to his feet as well.

"When Gunmar escaped from the Darklands," Jim explained, leaning down to help shove a few more things into their pack. Money, blankets, a bra, a couple of sweaters... "Usurna was the one who helped him take over and destroy our Trollmarket. She also helped him release Morgana from her imprisonment."

Aksel nodded, his expression becoming grim and serious. "I will go tell your Blinky and help your pack prepare to leave."

"Thank you, Aksel," Jim said, standing and offering a slight bow of his head in respect. "Thank you for everything."

The giant nodded, his expression solemn. Silently, he turned and left, disappearing into the hall. A moment later, the sound of suppressed chaos was echoing through the wall, Blinky's stern voice rising above the din to try and calm the others.

"So much for taking the time to recover," Claire murmured, somewhat bitterly. Jim couldn't ignore her intense worry or the way she eyed the pulsing power of Daylight flowing through the etchings in his armor. "You still have a fever."

"We don't have a choice," Jim sighed reluctantly. "The Amulet will keep me going until we can get far enough away."

"And then what?" Claire sat down, her knees folded under her as she looked at him almost desperately. "She's trying to _find_ us — to find _you_. She'll follow."

"Then I'll fight," he stated, his voice firm. Claire's anxiety rose, and she made a distressed noise in the back of her throat. To his surprise, she didn't argue, but he watched as her arms curled around herself, cradling her stomach, her eyes downcast. Moving to kneel by her side, Jim grasped one of her hands in his unarmored one, squeezing lightly. "I'll fight, and I'll win. _Nothing_ is going to tear me away from you and our daughter."

Claire smiled up at him, squeezing his hand back. Biting her lip, she snorted a laugh through her nose as some thought seemed to occur to her. "What's today?"

Jim frowned, slightly confused by her change in subject, though relieved that she seemed to be relaxing. "I dunno... December?"

"Duh, you dingus," his mate laughed, rolling her watery eyes. "What's the _day_?"

"Baby, I've lost track of the days," Jim chuckled. He picked up her favorite Papa Skull hoodie and quickly helped her pull it on. It must have 5 sizes too big for her, even with her expanding belly trying to fill in the space; it swamped her form, making her look like a child playing dress up, but she loved it and the way it covered her. It hid her pregnancy flawlessly, though he was less worried about that than her catching pneumonia in the waist-deep snow. "You're lucky that I even guessed the month right."

Claire snorted again, leaning up to press a soft, chaste kiss to his lips. "It's the twelfth."

"What?" Jim leaned back, startled.

"Happy 17th birthday," Claire laughed in a quiet voice, giving him another kiss. He reciprocated, but couldn't help the anxiousness beginning to well up in him.

"See," he tried to joke, leaning back with a wry grin. "I should have known. I hate birthdays."

"I'll give you a nice present later," Claire promised, licking and nuzzling the underside of his chin quickly.

Jim, slightly distracted by his wife's not so innocent proposal, didn't notice the breeze rushing through the room until the fire in the hearth whipped out, casting the room into almost complete darkness. He turned, Daylight coming to his aid. The light from his armor and sword, combined with the natural light of the Moonlight Bow on the wall lit the room with an eerie blue and purple light. Crouching protectively in front of his mate, Jim cast his eyes about the room frantically, growling low in his chest.

"Show yourself!" Jim warned, allowing Daylight to pulse and exude a heavier mist of power. There was a distinct lack of scent in the air, and it was with a sense of dread that he noticed the slight tingle of magic permeating the atmosphere around them. Claire must have felt it too, her own magic rising in response. "Face us!"

There was a burst of magic at his back and Jim turned just in time to see Koenraad looming over them with a grim expression. Before he could react, the elder giant swept a massive hand around, catching Claire in his palm and flinging her across the room.

"Claire!" Jim shouted, his heart leaping into his chest. He made to leap for her, knowing he could catch her, but several hands grabbed him from behind, pushing him to his knees. "No! Let me go!"

Struggling against the restraining hands combining to overpower him, Jim watched in horror as his mate's body flew through the air, a scream on her lips. With a loud crash, she hit the opposite wall; a blinding flash of white light burst around the room, forcing Jim to close his eyes. There was a lighter _bang!_ and a clattering sound, and when he opened his eyes again, he found Claire huddled haphazardly on the floor at the base of the wall, her hands moving over herself in stunned confusion. Her impact against the wall had knocked several of the ornaments and bows down with her, but she seemed miraculously unharmed. With a shock of relief, Jim noticed a bright light coming from his mate's hand, her wedding band glowing with power. He could feel the answering tingle of protective magic in his own ring, and his whole body slumped in exhausted relief.

"I'm sorry, Trollhunter," Koenraad said, his voice solemn as he looked down at Jim without sparing Claire a second glance. "The world is changing. Humans advance with each passing day, while our kinds are forced to hide in what little nature remains. The magics you wield, the magics that created you as you are now, the magics your mate wields... what she carries will expose us all — will _doom_ us all."

"No!" Jim snarled, jerking against his restraints. His captors were trolls, bigger than him, and their faces were covered with the heavy skulls of other trolls, like grotesque masks. "No, Koenraad, _listen to me_! We're not a threat! I'm the Trollhunter; that means that I protect _everyone_ , and that means you and your people as well!"

"I'm sorry," Koenraad said, his expression slightly guilty as he turned his back to him.

Jim watched, still struggling with all of his waning might, as the giant bent to retrieve something from the floor below him. When the elder turned back, Jim scrambled desperately to stand to his feet, a snarling growl causing the infection in his lungs to bubble and crackle. He tasted blood on the back of his tongue, but held himself back from showing any kind of weakness in the face of the Krubera troll that Koenraad gently deposited in front of Jim.

"Well met, Trollhunter," Usurna said, that annoying smirk and haughtiness on her face causing Jim to see red, the blood pounding in his ears. Her elaborate robes and headdress were gone, her purple stone rubbed in with mud and tar. Bits of her bioluminescent etchings shone through the paint, but for the most part, her body was well camouflaged in the dark. "It would seem my previous assessment over your humanity has been rectified... only to give way to some kind of hybridized magical mutt. Even worse than an Impure; disgusting."

"Give it up, Usurna," Jim growled, ignoring her insults. "Gunmar and Morgana are gone, the Krubera won't follow you anymore, and no one is going to risk exposure to the humans."

"You are right," the former queen nodded, her expression thoughtful. She shot a look to the masked troll on his left, and it gave his arm a forceful twist. There was a cracking and popping sound, and Jim cried out in agony as his shoulder was pulled out of joint. He felt the blood that had pooled in his mouth trickle down his chin. "But with those two out of the way, that leaves an opening for those of us who wish to take back control. We'll have no need to fear risking exposure to the humans; we will take back our place on the surface. Already, I have agents securing the humans' weaponry. Can you imagine? Trolls, giants, creatures who have had to hide in the shadows for millennia with the power of the humans' ingenuity and technology at our disposal? Your kind has weapons that can obliterate entire continents with a single blow; even without the Eternal Night, our kinds will rule the world once more. It will be the _humans_ who will now have to hide from _us_."

Jim grimaced at the pain flowing through his trembling body, but managed to spit at the woman's feet, snarling, "Are you _insane_? There's a reason countries have pacts and deals agreeing not to use those weapons! They were a _mistake_! They don't just take out your enemies, they'll destroy _everything_! Humans, trolls, nature, _everything and everyone_."

"A risk we're willing to take," she replied in a dark voice, stepping forward. The trolls restraining him jerked his body upright, and he cried out as the one twisted his arm again, pulling at it harder. Usurna was making motions with her hands, drawing arcane scripts of glowing green magic in the air, and Jim tried to scramble back from the sense of evil the magic was giving off. The power was collecting at the center, hovering an inch from his heart. "Goodbye, Trollhunter — for the last time."

" _Force the armor to do what_ you _want._ "

Jim sucked in a breath, clenching his eyes shut and turning his head away from the incoming death. Draal's voice echoing in his head, he concentrated on the power coursing through his armor, gathering it together to build and hold into the amulet, the magical object lying directly in the line of fire.

At the same time, Claire's voice rung out and he snapped his eyes open to see that she had scrambled her way back to them, the Moonlight Bow pulled back in her grasp. "How about _this_ weapon, bitch?!"

Usurna released her magic a second after Claire released her arrow, and Jim cringed back again, forcing his own magic to explode from the Amulet in an attempt to create a barrier or throwback against the former queen's spell. Their powers hit all at once and a grand explosion of light and magic rocketed out from the source. Usurna screamed as the explosion flung her away, and Jim felt the trolls at his back release him as they were thrown back as well. No longer being restrained, Jim's body slumped, but a smaller body crashing into his kept him upright in the swirling tornado of magics buffeting against them.

"Jim!" Claire cried into his chest, her arms tight around him. Wrenching his arm forcefully back into place, Jim bit back the pained growl that wanted to rip from his chest and wrapped his arms around his mate, curling his body protectively around hers. "What the heck is happening?!"

"I don't know!" Jim shouted over the increasing roar in the air. Magics of blue, purple, and green flew around them like lightning, distorting the atmosphere into a blurry haze of glowing colors. The others had been thrown past the magics' range, but he and Claire were at the center of it. "Just keep your head down until the magic dissipates!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, the surface that they were on vanished from beneath them. Jim and Claire screamed as they fell through the air, gripping each other tightly. Falling and falling, the magic energy around them continued to swirl and arc in electric bolts as they tumbled head over heels. Jim pulled Claire closer, tucking her snuggly against his armored chest and summoned his shield to cover her head. No sooner than he had done this, than his back slammed into the ground, another white light flashing from Claire's ring to break their fall, though they still crashed with enough force to make the room shake. At once, the magic around them faded into nothing, but the relief was short-lived when heavy objects began raining down on them with loud bangs and crashes.

"Stay down!" Jim shouted, turning his body to press Claire beneath him, his body covering hers as canvases and paint cans slammed down on them. One can broke over his horn, bright yellow paint splattering over his head, dripping from his hair. When things stopped falling and the room fell silent, Jim eased himself back, letting Claire sit up beneath him as he stared around them in shock. "What the hell...?"

"A-are we..." Claire was breathing heavily, her expression pale and stunned as she took in their surroundings. "Are we... in your _basement_?"

Wiping the paint from his face, Jim opened his mouth to reply when there was the sound of multiple heavy footsteps from above. The basement door was flung open and a flash of familiar blue light flashed around the room and Claire yelled out in surprise below him as a shadow portal opened five feet from them. The sound of Daylight swung through the air, but Jim hadn't summoned his sword. Turning on instinct, he continued to cover his mate's body with his own, bringing his shield up to block the blow, coming face to face with his own weapon, his own armor, and his own face...

...his own _human_ face.

"Ah, there you go."

They all looked up at the voice to see Merlin standing on the stairs, an unperturbed look on his face. Jim's heart pounded and his mouth fell open as he also saw Toby, Blinky, AAARRRGGHH!, Dictatious, his mother, Strickler, Nomura, Nana, Ophelia, and Javier all piling down the stairs, taking in the sight with wide eyes. Right behind the human Jim was another Claire, her stomach flat and wielding a fully intact Shadow Staff.

"I told you," Merlin went on with a casual wave of his hand. "Older and taller. I suppose I just didn't factor in the possibility of time travel."

 _To be continued..._

╬ _REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!_ ╬


	13. Chapter Thirteen

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

► _Thank you for all of your continued support, my loves! Enjoy the next chapter!_

 **Chapter Thirteen**

"Time travel?!"

"You don't expect us to believe that that's _me_?!" Jim's human self stated in an incredulous voice, Daylight still raised to strike.

Jim himself was too shocked to really respond, though he kept his body crouched protectively over his mate. He'd lowered his shield slightly, and it hid her from view. When she made to move, Jim shifted only slightly enough to press his knee against her shoulder, urging her to stay down. Thankfully, she fell still until he could figure out what the hell was going on.

"Well, of course," Merlin said, sniffing haughtily. "I see my spell will work wonderfully."

"Spell?" Barbara asked, giving the wizard a sharp look. "What spell?"

"The spell to turn Jim into a troll," the wizard stated as if it were the most normal thing to say.

"You want to turn me into a _troll_?" Human Jim exclaimed, Daylight dissipating as he turned to face the old man in stunned disbelief.

"Oh, my god," Jim mumbled to himself. Shaking himself free from his muted shock, he raised his voice. "Wait... wait a minute! Someone give me a timeline here!"

"Woah," Toby rushed forward as everyone else jumped in shock at Jim's voice. Tossing his Warhammer aside, the pudgy kid that looked like his best friend pushed past the human Jim and leaned in close to peer at the troll counterpart. "That's your _voice_ , Jimbo! And he _does_ kind of look like you. And he's clearly a Trollhunter. And—"

Jim leaned back, startled, an instinctive growl rising in his throat. Any version of Toby was his best friend, but he'd just been attacked and nearly killed (again), apparently tossed through Time itself, and his breeding mate was barricaded protectively behind his shield as everyone stared at him in amazement. " _Back off, Tobes_."

Toby grinned, but stepped back only to turn and grab the human Jim by the shoulders and shake the slack-jawed boy excitedly. "He _is_ you! A _troll_ you! So cool!"

"Why on earth would you do that to him?!" Blinky shouted, turning to stare askance at Merlin.

"Okay, _enough_ ," Jim growled, baring his teeth in frustration. " _I've_ already had this conversation, and _you'll_ have it sometime later, so can _someone_ tell me _when we are_?!"

Human Jim's Amulet flickered and then his armor dissipated. The other Claire, who had remained silent through the exchange, was clearly just as shocked, but her experience with magic kept her more guarded. The shadow portal she had summoned rippled in the air ominously, something which _his_ Claire was not too happy about.

" _Ugh, get rid of that damn thing_!" Claire shouted, finally getting fed up with being the protected damsel in distress. Jim didn't fight her as she pushed him back slightly, sitting up on her knees to pop her head over the rim of the shield and glare at her other self. " _Get rid of it_!"

The others jumped back again, especially when Claire's magic began to rise, whipping her hair around her face. With a gasp, the other Claire pulled her staff back, the portal dissipating into nothing.

"Woah!" Toby exclaimed again, dancing from foot to foot excitedly. "There's a future Claire too!"

"I must admit," Javier said from the stairs, his voice equally as excited. " _This_ is the coolest thing ever!"

"When are we?" Jim repeated, breathing deeply and allowing his own armor to dissipate as his adrenaline eased. Without the added power of the Amulet to empower him, his fever and weakness rushed back, causing his body to slump. Claire braced herself under his arm, holding him up, her hoodie practically swallowing her in its volume.

"Are you sick?" the other Claire asked, stepping forward with a hand raised, frowning in concern.

"Poisoned," Jim coughed out, covering his mouth as he spit up the blood and mucus that had been building in his lungs since he'd donned his armor.

"Oh, great," Human Jim laughed sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "I have a poisoning to look forward to as well! I'll add it to my schedule!"

"At least you're not possessed! Right, Claire?" Toby said, shooting the other Claire a mischievous look. She smacked him in the back of his head with her staff. "Ow!"

" _When_?" Claire demanded, taking Jim's hand and wiping the gunk off with the sleeve of her hoodie. "Clearly, this is before Merlin casts his spell, but after we brought him back to Arcadia, so that gives us a timespan of two days—"

"I turn into a troll in _two days_?" Jim's human counterpart exclaimed, glaring up at the bored looking wizard.

"Stop!" Barbara shouted, holding her hands up to halt the various exclamations. Looking to Jim and Claire, her eyes wide and concerned, she continued, "You've only just come back from finding Merlin. The staff was lost; we were just getting ready for the day when all this happened."

" _Right_ after?" Claire asked, bracing herself against Jim as she moved to stand and they stumbled to their feet. The others took a step back, staring up at his height in shock.

"Er..." Human Jim stammered, blushing furiously as he looked at the older Claire. Jim almost laughed, knowing his younger self was unsure how to react with two girlfriends (albeit the same person) in the room. "Y-yeah. Like 20 minutes ago."

"Okay," Jim said, coughing again, his knees trembling. "M-Merlin, you can get us back to our own t—"

"Perhaps _your_ Merlin has his magic back," the wizard interrupted, sniffing petulantly. "But, may I remind you, that _I_ do not?"

"Okay, this basement isn't big enough for all of this drama," Barbara said, taking charge. "Everyone, upstairs!"

It was surreal, being back home, but not really. Everything was exactly as Jim remembered, he noted as they climbed the stairs and entered the main floor. He remembered the sunrise of that morning, but right now the curtains were drawn, the sky a dusky pre-dawn gray beyond the window. It was hard to imagine that in two days, his younger self's life was going to change forever... again. While being surrounded by his childhood home definitely made him feel nostalgic, the feel of his mate at his side kept him grounded and focused.

"I'm sorry," Ophelia said once everyone was settled, already attempting to take change of the situation. "Okay, so, we're supposed to believe that _this_ is Jim and Claire and _somehow_ they've travelled _back in time_?"

"Mom, you're standing in the presence of trolls, changelings, and a wizard, and you're questioning time travel?" Younger Claire said, crossing her arms over her chest and smirking in amusement at her mother. At Jim's side on the couch, Jim felt his mate shift uncomfortably, her hand twitching in her lap as she resisted the urge to rub her hidden belly anxiously.

"Fair point," Ophelia said with a slight shrug. "I just wasn't expecting to be _living_ an episode of _Doctor Who_ on top of the impending doom of this Gunmar guy."

"Hey, wait!" Toby exclaimed, flapping his hands around excitedly. "They're from the future! You can tell us how we defeat Gunmar, so we can do it easy peasy!"

There was a heartbeat of silence as everyone in the room digested this and looked toward Jim and Claire with a muted hope. Merlin, however, was the one who answered.

"Even if they do tell us that information," the wizard started in a know-it-all voice. "By nature of their arrival in this time, we won't remember it."

"Wait, what?" Human Jim asked, his expression desperately outraged. "What do you mean?"

"Trollhunter," Merlin said calmly. "Think about it: you are witnessing your future self and the future Fair Claire traveling back in time; by that logic, your future selves should remember this, as you — their past selves — are currently experiencing this incident. As their shock and confusion clearly indicates, they have no recollection of this happening. Since Time cannot be so drastically rewritten without creating a paradox, which it clearly hasn't, it stands to reason that the time traveling is a factor that always happens, a continuous loop. The only way to rectify this is to send the time traveling offenders back to their own time and erase any memory of them from the beings that they encounter in the past."

"That _does_ make sense," Blinky said, stroking his chin thoughtfully with one of his hands. Everyone else just looked confused. "You say that we have a timespan of two days, but if our memories will be erased, it's likely that several days will pass, yet we won't have any recollection of it. Without Merlin's magic to aid us, we will have to find an alternative way to get you back to your time."

"Head hurts," AAARRRGGHH! grumbled, frowning. Toby nodded, patting the Krubera's arm affectionately.

"I feel ya, buddy."

"Well," Ophelia said, standing to her feet, her expression determined. "It won't make matters any better if we attract suspicion. I suppose the kids can get away with missing school for the day, but _I_ have to be at work."

"You're right, Ophelia," Barbara nodded, and Jim noticed that she was in her scrubs, clearly having been ready to head off to work herself before all of the wizards and time traveling happened. "Troll Jim obviously needs to rest, anyway, so I think it's best we all go about our day as normally as possible."

"Normal?" Human Jim scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Right. Normal. Time traveling troll me. Perfectly normal."

"Was I always that angsty?" Jim asked Claire, smirking at the affronted look his past self shot him, his friends snickering behind him.

"You were going through some heavy stuff, Hon," Claire replied with a soft laugh. Jim felt a sudden rush of excitement shoot through her, and he was surprised when she shot to her feet. The others jumped back from her intensity, eyeing her with concern. "Wait, wait, wait! We're in civilization!"

"Uh..." her past self gave Claire a weird look. "Well, if you count the looming end of the world as 'civilization'..."

"Jim!" Claire turned back to him in excitement, grabbing him by the horns and yanking him into a quick, but deep kiss. Pulling back, she ignored the furiously blushing faces of their younger selves and darted over to Jim's mother, stopping short of tackling the woman, looking up at her pleadingly. "Barbara, could I _please_ use your shower and washing machine?!"

"Oh, uh..." Barbara laughed awkwardly as she watched Claire practically bouncing on her toes in excitement. "Of course, honey."

Claire squealed excitedly, and darted off up the stairs, shouting, "Running hot water!"

Human Jim laughed slightly, "She sounds like I did when I got out of the Darklands."

Younger Claire giggled, giving Jim an awkward smile and joked, "Is there no running water in the future?"

"There is," Jim replied, rubbing nervously at the scruff on the back of his neck. "We've just been camping a lot, so it's been a while since we've been in water that wasn't a stream or river."

"Ugh," Human Jim groaned, slapping his face with his hand. "So, we're still fighting Gunmar in the future?"

Jim smirked and lightly poked his younger self in the chest, right where his Amulet rested when he was in his armor. "You don't stop being the Trollhunter just because Gunmar and Morgana are gone."

An immediate sense of relief washed through the room as he confirmed future events. Blinky stepped forward after a moment, wiping a watering eye with one of his fingers. "Well... as wonderful and relieving as this news is, we should address the present issue of getting you two back to your own time. AAARRRGGHH! and I shall go see if we can scrounge up any information on Time magic. I managed to save a few of my tomes before Trollmarket fell to Gunmar; perhaps they may tell us what we need to know."

"I will go with you," Merlin said, not asking. Blinky shot the old wizard an annoyed look. "I'd like to read up on what's happened over the centuries."

"And I am officially late," Barbara said with an apologetic smile, grabbing her purse.

Jim suspected that his mother and the other adults weren't quite sure what to make of the situation and were relieved to have a reason to leave. That was fine with Jim, who wasn't really sure how to face what was happening either. The headache caused by the confusion and fever was beginning to claw behind his eyes.

Within a few minutes, Jim was alone with his past self, the younger Claire, and Toby as the others left for work or home. Dictatious went home with Nana, the two having bonded in a strange, mischievous friendship. Plus, Jim was fairly certain the troll could smell the numerous cats she had and was looking for a snack. They relocated to Jim's bedroom, and he sat on the bed, leaning against the wall at the head of the bed, his knees pulled to his chest to give the others room to sit. His younger self took the desk chair while Toby sat on the bed, facing Jim. Younger Claire seemed nervous and stood beside Human Jim.

"So, how far in the future are you from?" Younger Claire asked, clutching her staff to her chest anxiously. The gesture reminded him of the stolen Moonlight Bow resting on the couch downstairs where _his_ Claire had left it in her rush for cleanliness.

Jim thought for a moment, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's late May, right? So... almost 7 months."

"That's it?" Toby asked, his voice a little disappointed. "I was hoping you were going to tell me I was a world famous actor!"

"You hate acting, Tobes," Human Jim laughed, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, but that's now; things change," Toby said, shrugging.

"Sorry to disappoint," Jim laughed, the liquid in his lungs catching and causing him to fall into another coughing fit. He felt light hands patting his back comfortingly and when he looked up, Younger Claire was standing next to him, her expression awkwardly concerned. Behind her, Human Jim was gazing at her back in love struck silence, and Jim snorted a laugh.

"What is it?" Younger Claire asked, looking back to follow his gaze to her boyfriend. The boy's expression cleared, and he grinned sheepishly, his cheeks red.

"Ugh," Toby rolled his eyes, pretending to gag. "Please tell me you two have gotten over the disgusting love sick looks and shyness?"

Human Jim and Younger Claire rolled their eyes and Jim huffed another laugh through his nose. "Well, we're not so shy, anymore."

"Yeah, that kiss down there was pretty intense," Toby snickered, laughing harder at the deepening blushes on his best friends' faces.

"Shut up, Tobes," Human Jim groaned in embarrassment, and Jim smirked, deciding to poke some fun at himself and the Younger Claire.

"You should see the kisses we have when we're alone."

Younger Claire squeaked in mortification by his side, jumping back as if his proximity burned. " _Jim_!"

Jim laughed lightly, her childish embarrassment endearing. Human Jim shifted nervously in his chair, glancing up at his older self from beneath his eyelashes. "Even... even like that?"

Jim stiffened slightly as the boy gestured to his changed body, but he remembered his feelings of uncertainty and low self esteem during that time. He reminded himself that this was not just some random kid, but his own self; his younger, weaker, less certain, and very frightened self. He debated on how best to answer the question when he felt _his_ Claire purposefully send a feeling of intense love along their bond. He didn't know if she could hear their conversation or was just reacting to his own fluctuating emotions, but it gave him the confidence he needed to reassure his younger self.

"You tell me," Jim said softly, holding up his left hand and gesturing to his wedding band with his other hand.

Human Jim's mouth dropped open in shock while Younger Claire gave another embarrassed squeak before she dropped her staff to the floor with a clatter. She tackled her boyfriend and besieged him with a series of kisses on his cheek, hugging the stunned boy tightly. Another love sick smile spread across Human Jim's face, and Toby gagged teasingly.

The sound of footsteps in the hall distracted them, and they all looked up to see Claire walking into the room with an extremely happy expression. Her hair was wrapped up in a towel, a few curls sticking out at the base of her neck. Her hoodie was covering her to her knees, her legs bare underneath, and she had her dirty clothes held up in her arms in front of her.

"I'll never take soap for granted again," she sighed dreamily. Jim saw Younger Claire glance at her older self's left hand, her blush rising as she saw the matching wedding band. Looking to Jim, Claire continued, "Your turn; yellow really isn't your color."

Jim laughed, almost having forgotten about the paint covering his head. Plus, the idea of an actual shower with hot water and soap was a really nice thought. "Yes, dear."

Claire stuck her tongue out at him while the others laughed, and then she turned to Human Jim. "I'm going to steal a pair of your sweats, okay?"

Without waiting for an answer, she turned toward the dresser and opened the drawer, rummaging about for said pair of sweatpants. Human Jim jumped up, his face red. "W-wait! I'll get them for y—"

Claire froze as she grasped something in the drawer and then she laughed, pulling out the magazine to wave it in the air, giving both Jims an amused look. "Really?"

Toby was rolling around on the bed, laughing his head off while Younger Claire stared at the naked woman on the cover of the magazine in embarrassed horror. Human Jim looked like he wanted Gunmar to march into the room and slaughter him where he stood. Jim merely shook his head in amusement, though he _was_ slightly embarrassed by the discovery. He felt the mischievousness that Claire was feeling as she proceeded to open the magazine and peruse the pages.

"Hmm," she mumbled, turning the magazine to the side to look at the centerfold. She scoffed, " _Please_. Those look like beach balls stuck to her chest, and who the heck shaves geometric designs in their—"

" _Oh, my god, please stop_!" Human Jim wailed in mortification. He fell back into the chair, slumping forward to hide his face in his hands.

"Don't worry," Claire laughed, tossing the magazine back into the drawer. "I don't care about your porn mags; what you've got in reality is way better, and you know it."

Younger Claire gave a humiliated squeak, glaring at her older self from behind her fingers. "Did you _seriously_ just say that? What the heck is wrong with you?"

Claire laughed, finally finding some sweats and pulling them from the drawer with a flourish. Walking over to Jim, she sprawled herself in his lap, careful to keep her hoodie covering her. With a pointed look and a laugh at the chaos she was causing, he leaned down to press a soft, chaste kiss to her lips.

"Hard to believe they're going to lose their virginity in a month, huh?" Jim said when he pulled back, joining in on the fun with a laughing grin. He never thought he would enjoy embarrassing himself so much, unique as the circumstances were, at least.

"You might want to lay off the teasing, if you actually want to get to that point," Toby snickered, controlling his hysterical laughter. "I think you're gonna kill yourselves with embarrassment."

Jim laughed again as he watched his human self and Younger Claire practically jumped away from each other, avoiding eye contact. Had they really been that childish? The image of Claire on the school roof, admitting that she loved him popped into his head. He hadn't said it back at the time, but he had already long since been totally in love with the girl; after that, being shy around each other had seemed like a moot point. She _loved_ him, accepted him in any form; what was there to be embarrassed about?

"Right," Jim chuckled, moving Claire from his lap to the bed as he stumbled to his feet. Shaking the dizziness from his head, he stepped toward the door and out into the hall, leaving behind the stew of teenaged, human embarrassment. "A shower sounds good."

The steam created by the hot water and the clean scent of the eucalyptus soap felt amazing on Jim's lungs, and he probably stayed in the shower way longer than what could normally be considered innocent, but he didn't care. He carefully washed the wound on his neck, cringing against the sting of the soap, but grateful to clean away the rotting smell and the bits of dead flesh. He had to duck to get his head and horns under the spray of the water to wash his hair and the paint off of his horns, now half a head taller than the shower spout. He took the time to consider what was happening, unsure how this would correlate with his own time. They were in the past, but Time was passing and progressing; was it the same for the others left back in the future? Or would they be returned to the very moment that they had been transported into the past, making it seem like none of it had happened at all? Time travel was seriously confusing, Jim thought. No wonder it was only a single, minor plot point in all seven _Harry Potter_ books.

Not having any clean clothes, Jim had to steal a pair of his own sweatpants, though the material didn't extend past mid-calf; either way, it kept the important bits covered. His scars were on clear display, but he only spared them a small glance, not overly concerned over Human Jim's or the others' reactions. In a way, Jim kind of hoped that seeing the scars, seeing the extent of his sacrifices, would give his younger self the unconscious courage to do what needed to be done. The wound on his neck was still in the process of closing, but the hole was smaller, the raw edges of the wound red, pink, and alive. He watched in morbid fascination as his jugular moved when he swallowed. Shaking his head and gathering his dirty clothes in his arms, he left the bathroom, following the sound of clattering around in the kitchen below.

" _Dude_!" Toby shouted excitedly as he turned and caught sight of Jim as he stepped down from the last step. He, Human Jim, and Younger Claire were seated at the bar window separating the dining room and kitchen while his Claire rummaged around in the fridge, throwing random foods on the counter. "You're _ripped_."

Jim grimaced uncomfortably at the assessment, avoiding eye contact with his counterpart and the other Claire as they stared at him in embarrassed shock. Human Jim had gone pale as his eyes roamed his future self's scarred chest and the hole in his neck.

"Want some bandages?" Human Jim asked, slightly hesitant. "That looks nasty."

"It was worse," Jim said, shrugging. He detoured to the laundry shoot beside the basement door, pushing his clothes through. He was still a little feverish and weak, so he decided to wash his clothes later, moving to take a seat at the bar with the others. "I'll let the air get at it for a bit."

"Er..." Younger Claire was looking over the assortment of random foods spread across the counter with a weirded out expression. "I think my future self might be possessed again."

"I'm just hungry," Claire's voice rung out from behind the fridge door and Jim chuckled.

"I can make you something, you know?" Human Jim offered, also eyeing the foods, concerned over the odd combinations. "Whatever you want."

"Rabbit stuffed with peanut butter and pickles? Ooh, with some lime jello!" Claire said, and Jim chuckled as the others jerked back from her enthusiasm with looks of disgust.

"But I hate lime jello," Younger Claire said, shooting Jim a 'please explain this!' look.

" _That's_ the weirdest thing you pick up on from that combination?" Toby asked incredulously, looking between the two Claires in disgust.

"It's not _weird_ ," Claire said, emerging from the fridge with a jar of mayonnaise and a container of leftover meatloaf. Reaching up into the freezer, she proceeded to pull out a carton of vanilla ice cream and then dumped her horde onto the counter with her other food finds. "Well, okay, maybe no lime jello."

"Seriously, Claire, I can cook some...thing..." Human Jim tried again, sounding like he was going to throw up as he watched Claire open the carton of ice cream and take some meatloaf from the container, mixing the two together with a happy look on her face. Grabbing a jar of capers, she sprinkled them into the ice cream/meatloaf mixture and then dug in with a large spoon, licking her lips in delight.

"Definitely possessed," Toby gagged. Jim laughed as he eyed the kids' green faces, though even he had to admit that the combination Claire had created looked extremely unappetizing. Given their lack of access to food varieties while they traveled, his mate hadn't really had the opportunity to indulge her pregnancy cravings, so she was going a little wild now.

"Toss me a spoon, honey," Jim said, his own stomach growling.

" _You're_ not going to eat that too, are you?" Younger Claire said, her expression horrified. "I'm sure future me isn't going to make you eat that mess just to save her from embarrassment."

"Nah," Jim laughed, catching the wooden spoon his mate tossed to him and biting off the handle, speaking as he chewed. "Ish good."

"So, I eat spoons in the future," Human Jim said, his voice flat. "That's a thing."

"Better a spoon than... _that_ ," Toby said, gesturing to Claire's meal with a jerk of his thumb.

"Fair point."

"Hey," Claire said, waving her spoon angrily at Toby. "Don't make fun of my food choices. Do you know how long it's been since I've eaten something other than wild game and whatever vegetables grow in the wilderness? I'd even eat Barbara's carbonara at this point!"

"I thought you liked my Squirrel Succotash?" Jim pretended to be offended as he finished off the spoon, smirking at his wife. Toby was staring at the hole in his neck with a fascinated look on his green face.

"Babe, there's only so much Squirrel a girl can take, no matter how good you cook them," Claire laughed, licking her spoon clean. Suddenly, a weird look crossed her face, and she dropped her spoon into the carton, pushing it away as she braced herself against the counter and hung her head down like she was going to be sick.

"See?" Younger Claire laughed lightly, moving around to the kitchen to gently rub her older self's back. "What possessed you to eat all that ju—"

Claire's body spasmed, and she gasped, pressing a hand to her side with a grimace. Jim could feel that whatever was wrong, she wasn't scared, but surprised.

"Claire?" Jim, his younger self, and Toby rushed around into the kitchen to come to her aid. Jim could see the sweat building on her forehead, and she gave a light whimper when her body spasmed again.

"Dude, she's going to blow Meatloaf Surprise all over the place!" Toby exclaimed, looking around frantically. He dashed for the pantry and grabbed a bucket.

"I'm fine," Claire said, wincing as her body stretched to the side, like she was trying to move out of the way of some invisible force. Jim went to his mate's other side, pressing a light hand to her shoulder and pushing a feeling of concern along their bond. She clutched the underside of her belly, her expression scrunched up in pain, repeating, "I'm fine."

Her movement hadn't gone unnoticed by the others' concerned gazes, and even Claire's enormous hoodie couldn't hide the shape of her body when she pressed against herself in an attempt to stave off the pain. Younger Claire stepped back in shock and Human Jim wobbled and nearly hit the floor had he not caught himself on the counter. Toby, of course, took everything in excited stride.

"All right!" Toby exclaimed, pulling his two shocked best friends into a group hug. "Uncle Tobes for the win!"

"Ah!" Claire cried out, falling to her knees, scrunching her face up.

"Claire!" Jim shouted, scooping her up into his arms. She still did not feel scared, but she was obviously in a lot of pain. He stood shakily and carried her around to the living room, laying her down on the couch. As her body pressed to his, he could feel the furious movements of his child from within her. "What the hell is she doing in there?"

"I think she's trying to turn," Claire gasped, gripping his hand tightly and arching her back. Younger Claire rushed to the side of the couch where her older self's head was resting and brushed her hair back with a shaky hand. Human Jim and Toby came up next to her, their wide eyes fixated on Claire's swollen belly, the shape of which was clearly visible now that she was lying on her back.

"Woah," all three of them gasped as Jim pushed Claire's hoodie up past her stomach, exposing her pale flesh. Movement beneath the skin stretched out and back in with bumpy shapes, like there was an alien inside of her trying to get out.

"Oh, that's so gross!" Toby shuddered, cringing back. Younger Claire elbowed him in the gut angrily. "What?"

"Pull my hips," Claire gasped, sitting up on her elbows with a grimace and pushing her back forward in an attempt to stretch her body. "Jim, pull my hips down!"

Doing as he was told, Jim grabbed his mate's waist, carefully and firmly pulling on her body, forcing her hips to arch with her back at a downward angle. Her body gave another spasm as the baby kicked and flipped, and then Claire collapsed against the couch, letting out a relieved breath.

"What the hell was all that?" Human Jim exclaimed in a high, panicked voice. "That's not normal, is it?"

"Babies move around, you dingus," Younger Claire teased her boyfriend, flicking his nose lightly. "Troll babies are probably stronger, that's all."

"Are you all right?" Jim asked his mate, ignoring their younger selves to caress Claire's sweaty face as she tried to catch her breath.

"M'fine," she replied with a tired laugh. She pushed herself up into a reclining position against the arm of the couch and poked her stomach lightly. "What are you doing in there, young lady? It's not the Forge in there, you know? You need to reschedule your sparring practice."

"I thought you said you were only from about 7 months into the future?" Human Jim asked, frowning in concentration as he stared at Claire's exposed stomach. "Because she looks close to 7 months pregnant, and we haven't... um..."

"I'm 6 months and 10 days," Claire said, snickering at the stunned looks she received from them in response.

"You know it down to the _day_?" Human Jim exclaimed in weirded out shock. "How could you possibly know—"

Claire wiggled her eyebrows at Jim's younger self teasingly, and his face turned as red as a tomato. Younger Claire blushed too, but she giggled at her boyfriend's embarrassment while Toby howled with laughter. Human Jim wasn't in the mood for humor, though.

"This isn't funny!" He said, glaring at his best friend. "Or did you forget the evil troll underlord and the 12th century sorceress trying to _kill us and take over the world_?!"

"Of course not!" Toby argued back, his laughter sobering. "But we know we're going to win, so—"

"But at what cost?!" Jim's human counterpart argued, gesturing to the scars on his chest. "Those aren't just scratches! And did you notice that Claire doesn't have her shadow staff? That she seemed _afraid_ of the portal _our_ Claire had summoned? Oh, and let's not forget the fact that future me is currently _poisoned and sick_! We can't just sit around and laugh and joke and pretend the present isn't happening just because one aspect of the future is a good one!"

"You're right," Jim said, moving to sit on the couch, pulling Claire into the cradle of his thighs, her back leaning against his front. He pulled her hoodie back down, resting his mismatched hands on her stomach. "A lot's gonna happen, and not all of it good, but there's more than just one aspect of the future that's positive. You're gonna have to grow up a lot sooner than normal people, so you should get to enjoy being a kid while you can; even if it's just for a few more days."

Human Jim bit his lip, frowning. "I suppose I'm not going to be graduating high school?"

"No," Jim confirmed in a quiet voice. "But you've got a pretty secure job."

His younger self snorted, glancing over to his girlfriend shyly. "And I get the girl?"

Claire laughed, her younger self blushing, but laughing as well. "You can't get rid of the girl, even if you tried. You're stuck with me."

"And I get to be Uncle Tobes!" Toby interjected, pulling his friends into another group hug. "How cool is that?!"

"I'm still a little freaked out over that," Human Jim laughed, his face red as he caught his girlfriend's eye.

"Hey, I was trying to be the responsible one that day," Jim teased, leaning down to lick the underside of his mate's jaw. She nuzzled him back affectionately, laughing. "Claire threw herself at me."

"Oh, please," Claire snickered. "You didn't take much convincing."

"I put up a valiant effort against your seductions, thank you very much," Jim sniffed indignantly, unable to resist her continued affections. His actions probably weren't going far to hold up his argument to the others, but he didn't care.

"Yeah, I gotta admit," Younger Claire said, her voice amused but concerned. "Jim _is_ usually the more responsible one out of the three of us."

"Did we get drunk?" Jim asked, laughing weakly. "This was in celebration of defeating Gunmar and Morgana, wasn't it?"

"No," Claire laughed, grasping one of Jim's hand in hers, holding it lightly on top of her belly. "You have more animalistic tendencies and instincts as a troll, so... it's a bit easier to get you riled up."

" _Easy_?" Human Jim exclaimed, laughing. "Are you saying I'm _easy_?"

Jim rolled his eyes, giving his wife a mild glare. "I wouldn't say _ea_ —"

Her lips were on his neck, her teeth pressing lightly into his flesh, and the next thing he knew, he had an hysterically laughing Claire halfway to her hands and knees on the floor. Shaking his head and shuffling back away from her, he was at least relieved to note that he hadn't started ripping clothes off.

Sitting up on her knees, Claire leaned back against Jim's chest, laughing. "See? Easy."

"That was cheating," Jim mumbled. To his surprise, Younger Claire had collapsed to the couch in a fit of equally as hysterical laughter as her older self, Toby was on the floor again, cackling so hard he was crying, and even Human Jim was snickering.

"No point in resistance then, huh?"

Jim shook his head, giving a weak laugh. "Nope."

"He really likes biting," Claire snickered as they moved back to the couch. Jim warily kept some space between himself and his mate; he hadn't forgotten that she owed him a birthday present, after all. She leaned conspiratorially toward her younger self and whispered in her ear, low enough that Human Jim and Toby couldn't hear, but Jim definitely could. "And he'll try to be cute and respectful, but it's better when he gets wild and takes you from behind."

"Claire!" Jim yelped, genuinely embarrassed that time. "Stop giving yourself the cheat sheet!"

Younger Claire was blushing furiously, but still laughing. "I'll - I'll keep that in mind."

"How did you even manage to get sent back in time, anyway?" Human Jim asked, deciding to change the very embarrassing subject.

"I'm not really sure," Jim said, frowning. He leaned over to scoop up the Moonlight Bow from where it had fallen to the floor and handed it to his mate. "We got caught up in a clash of different magics; I'm guessing the combination managed to distort Time, somehow."

"The Moon _does_ control spaces of Time, like the flow of the tides and the natural rhythms of the world," Claire pondered, gripping the bow tightly and giving down at the weapon in thought. "So does the Sun. It's possible that the combination of Daylight and Moonlight was the cause."

"And whatever magic Usurna was using," Jim reminded his mate. "Whatever it was, it definitely meant 'game over,' if it had hit."

"Wait, _Usurna_ is still around?" Toby groaned, rolling his eyes. "Man, I hate that woman. I was hoping she'd be gone too."

"What's Moonlight? That bow?" Younger Claire asked, reaching forward to gently pluck the glowing string. "Where's my shadow staff?"

Claire leaned away as her younger self brandished her staff for emphasis. "Put it _away_!"

"Sorry," Younger Claire said, tucking the staff into her back pocket, startled by her future self's reaction. Jim saw his human self and Toby exchange a concerned look. "Why are you afraid?"

"I've seen enough of the Shadow Realm to last me a lifetime," Claire said, her expression dark. "I'm not risking exposing my baby to that power."

"But it's _your_ power," Human Jim said, confused. " _You_ control it."

Claire shook her head, and Jim felt the fear coursing from her through their bond. "There's no _controlling_ it. You can use it to your advantage, but it's more of a risk in the long run. I never want to see that thing or the Shadow Realm ever again!"

"Well, I guess we're not taking _you_ into battle, then," Toby chuckled, cringing when Claire shot him an annoyed look, magic beginning to surge around her.

"I'm not powerless," she said, glowering at Toby. A pillow flew across the room and smacked the boy in the face.

Jim suppressed a laugh at his best friend's stunned look. "Don't piss off a pregnant woman, Tobes."

"I will take that under advisement," Toby replied smartly. Human Jim and Younger Claire chuckled.

"Eureka!"

The basement door flung open, banging against the wall. Jim jumped up, crouching in front of Claire protectively, a snarled growl ripping from his chest. He barely noted his younger self and the others jumping back in surprise.

"Pack your tacos, Tobias!" Blinky exclaimed excitedly, an open book in each of his hands. "From what information I've gathered so far, our best bet to find Time Magic is in Gato's Ke— oh, my, Future Claire, have you gained weight? It's most beco—oof!"

Blinky tumbled backward down the basement stairs as several objects flew through the air and crashed into him.

 _To be continued..._

╬ _REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!_ ╬


	14. Chapter Fourteen

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

 **»** _A guest reviewer asked if December 12th is canon for Jim's birthday; the answer is 'no.' I made a guesstimate based on the fact that his birthday fell just a little bit before he defeated Bular, which they say (at the end of that episode) is right before Midterms. Generally, high school midterms are held just before Christmas break, so late November or early December seemed like a reasonable estimation to me._

 **Θ** _We take a dip into some Arthurian legend here; however, I have twisted it a bit for my own use. The character Ywain is the son of Morgana and King Urien of Gorre in the actual legend. He was also a knight of the Round Table; however, for this story, I have made him the child of Morgana and Merlin._

 **Θ** _We also touch on some Celtic mythology in this chapter, so you're learning a lot. You'll have to forgive me; I have a BFA in English, so I'm a little bit of a Literature and Mythology nut. My senior thesis was on Poe and the beauty of insanity._

 **Θ** Enjoy!

 **Chapter Fourteen**

"No."

"Claire."

" _No_."

"Is she serious?"

"Come on, baby..."

"Absolutely not."

"It's one trip!"

"I don't care."

"We'll be in and out."

"I'm _not_ going in there!"

"She's got a reasonable fear, you know."

"Merlin, you are _not_ helping."

Jim groaned, gripping his horn anxiously as he watched his wife stubbornly refuse to go anywhere near the shadow portal that her younger self had summoned.

"Lady Claire," Blinky tried to speak to Claire in a reasonable voice. "If we do not take the shadow portal, it will be a two day walk to the Gyre that this portal can take us to in a matter of seconds."

"Then I'll stay here," Claire said, taking another step back from the portal, slipping the Moonlight Bow over her shoulder and across her chest like it could create a barrier between her and the darkness.

"Last week, you were furious with me for leaving you behind to hunt a Nøkken," Jim laughed, rolling his eyes. "Now, I'm begging you to go with me, and you won't."

"That's different!" His mate replied petulantly, intense fear coursing through her to the point of tears. "I'm not going in there. I'm not going in the dark again! I'm not going to be sucked in with that witch!"

The others were looking at her like she was a child throwing a temper tantrum, but Jim understood her fear. The last time she was in the Shadow Realm, she'd very nearly been trapped permanently within it, forced to battle Morgana for the rest of her life. Jim shuddered at the thought, his heart wrenching. He wondered if she hadn't escaped, if he hadn't felt her presence at his side, if he hadn't heard her sobs as she quoted his lines from the play, if he would have given in to the death magic. He didn't want to think about it, knowing that the answer was _yes_. Even when their souls hadn't been bound in the way they were now, they were connected.

Stepping forward and wrapping his arms gently around his mate from behind, Jim leaned down to nuzzle her neck. "Honey, that hasn't happened yet."

"I don't care," Claire practically sobbed, attempting to back them up again, her wide eyes riveted in terror on the portal. Jim stood his ground, keeping her where she was. "We can sneak into the Gyre at Trollmarket."

"That would be highly inadvisable," Merlin said, tapping his fingers against the counter in bored annoyance. "Although I admit your fears are valid, we cannot risk encountering Gunmar before we're ready. I have safeguards in place to prevent the Staff of Avalon from releasing Morgana just yet, so we have that slight miracle to our advantage, but it will only be a matter of time before he finds a way around them. The longer we wait, the more power Gunmar sucks from the Heartstone, and without the Heartstone to power them, _none_ of the Gyres will work."

"Then I'll stay here," Claire repeated, shaking her head frantically.

"Claire only protecting whelp," AAARRRGGHH! mumbled in his gruff voice, his tone understanding.

"Under normal circumstances, I would totally agree with you," Human Jim said, holding up his unarmored hands in a placating gesture. "But this is so far from normal, it's crazy town banana pants... with extra nuts. Claire, you _have_ to go."

Claire's temper flared, and Jim cringed as she marched toward his human self, poking him hard in the chest. "Don't you _dare_ tell me what to do, James Lake, Jr.! I am _not_ putting our child in reach of that witch, no matter _how_ indirect!"

"I have a point," Younger Claire admitted, frowning. The portal flickered with her wavering will. The others glared at her.

Jim tried pushing a sense of calm along their bond, but Claire's fear was too great; however, in concentrating on their bond, a thought occurred to him, and he pulled the Amulet from his pocket and looked down at it wonderingly.

 _She shares my soul_ , Jim thought toward the magical object. _Will you reject her still? Will you protect them from the dark?_

The Amulet gave a gentle pulse, and his hand moved without thinking, turning the dial. Select runes were glowing with power, while others remained dim, and he carefully aligned the powered runes together.

Blinky sighed, defeated. "Walking it is, I suppose. We'll gave to wait until night—"

Jim stepped forward again and took his mate's hand, pressing the Amulet into her palm. The object ticked rapidly in her hand, rattling with power. A moment later, Claire's body was covered in a fine mist of glowing Daylight, and she was looking between the Amulet and him in stunned confusion.

"Interesting," Merlin mused, playing with his beard in thought. "It would seem that the magic that binds and intermingles your souls has allowed the Lady Claire limited use of some of my Amulet's power."

The Amulet gave another pulse at Merlin's words, flashing briefly red, almost like it was angry with its creator's claiming of it. Merlin seemed to garner the same sense because he frowned, glowering at the object.

"Stubborn thing."

The wizard turned without another word and disappeared into the shadow portal. Blinky sighed, shaking his head in exasperation. Mumbling under his breath about 'keeping rogue wizards out of trouble,' the six-eyed troll followed after Merlin, the blackness swallowing him in an instant. AAARRRGGHH! was quick to follow, offering Claire an apologetic shrug before grabbing Toby and pulling him through the portal.

Human Jim and Younger Claire stood on either side of the portal, facing their older selves with uncertain looks.

"See?" Human Jim tried again in a soft voice. "Perfectly safe. Whatever you're afraid of hasn't happened yet, and Daylight will protect you, and we will too. None of us are going to let anything happen to you."

Still, Claire hesitated, and Jim could hear her heart pounding in her chest as her eyes shifted back to the portal. She was trembling. "I... I can't..."

Their younger selves gave her sympathetic expressions, and Jim's human counterpart shot him a pleading look. He sighed, cringing at the trouble he was going to be in as he stepped forward and scooped his mate up into his arms.

"No!" Claire screamed, kicking and struggling in his arms, but he held fast. "Let me go! Don't! Jim, please!"

Jim's heart wrenched at the terror and pleading in her voice, but he turned his back on the portal and fell backward into it. In the blink of an eye, they were floating, weightless, in the black void of the Shadow Realm. A second later, their younger selves were floating next to them. Claire was clinging so tightly to him that he was sure that her nails would manage to pierce his thickened flesh. He could feel the terror and fury flowing through her, her breath coming hard and fast as she cringed back from the eerie dust particles and bits of astral rock floating in the dense atmosphere.

"I'll make it up to you," Jim promised, nuzzling Claire's neck gently and offering a soft lick to her chin.

"You better," Claire squeaked, only relaxing the tiniest amount. The Amulet continued to tick loudly in her hand, the mist pulsing over her body protectively.

"It's okay," Younger Claire soothed, pointing with her staff to a bright light in the distance. "There's the exit; the others are waiting for us, so let's hurry up and get outta—"

Claire went rigid in Jim's arms, her hands smacking to the sides of her head, gripping her hair tightly in one hand while the other still grasped the ticking Amulet. Her eyes squeezed shut, her mouth fell open in a silent scream, and her eyes shot open to reveal pure black. Jim cried out, his body jerking as it felt like Claire's soul was ripped forcefully from his own, their bond going blank.

"Claire!" He shouted, terrified, giving her body a light shake. Her only response was to squeeze her eyes shut again, her mouth snapping closed.

"Come on!" Human Jim shouted, grabbing his girlfriend's hand, who grabbed hold of Jim's shirt. Kicking off of a passing asteroid, they hurtled toward the light.

They were flung out of the portal, crashing to the ground in a pile. As soon as the portal closed behind them, Claire's soul rushed forward, crashing into Jim's like a hurricane. He could feel her reaching into him, trying to touch every part of his soul with her own, just as perturbed by the disconnection as he was. She was still curled up in his arms, every part of her body tense and trembling, but when she opened her eyes again, they were her normal brown and filled with tears.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Jim cried, hugging his mate close as she sobbed into his chest. "God, I'm so sorry!"

"Great Gronka Morica!" Blinky exclaimed, rushing forward. "What has happened?!"

"You saw one of her memories again, didn't you?" Younger Claire asked her older self in a gentle voice, reaching out to grasp Claire's hand with the Amulet in it. "It's just a leftover memory, remember? It's not her."

"Ugh, that meddlesome woman," Merlin sighed, kneeling down next to Jim and placing a hand on top of Claire's head. "You see what I have to deal wi—"

" _Don't touch me_!" Claire screeched, wrenching herself away from Merlin's light touch, much to everyone's shock. The Amulet in her grasp flickered rapidly between blue and red. The Daylight mist surrounding Claire condensed, sparking from her to Merlin, a clear attack against its creator. The wizard cried out, like he had been shocked with electricity.

"Stubborn thing," he muttered again after a moment, twitching in leftover pain.

"Ywain..." Claire moaned in despair, her eyes glazed over, as if she were still trapped in Morgana's memory.

"What is—" Jim began to question, gently brushing his mate's hair out of her face, but he was cut off when Merlin gasped, lurching forward to grab Claire by the shoulders, shaking her roughly.

" _What did you see_?!"

"Get off of her!" Jim snarled, baring his teeth and shoving the old man back. At the same time, Human Jim summoned his armor and thrust Daylight between Claire and Merlin, the pointed tip an inch from the old man's throat. The shadow staff was powered black again, Younger Claire pointing it threateningly at the wizard.

"He killed him... he killed him..." Claire mumbled, tears cascading down her cheeks. She clutched desperately to Jim, trying to get as far away from Merlin as possible.

"Who?" Blinky inquired in a gentle voice, his expression worried. "Merlin?"

The wizard scoffed, avoiding their gazes. "I've killed many people during the centuries; I've never lacked for enemies."

"Well, maybe if you weren't such a jerk," Jim grumbled, a growl irritating his chest. And he'd been feeling better, too... "you wouldn't have so many enemies."

"One cannot be immortal and stay soft," Merlin said, turning his nose up into the air. "When everyone around you ages and dies while you live on, you must become hardened."

" _He was a newborn, and you killed him_!" Claire screeched suddenly through her sobs, her red-rimmed eyes glaring the old man down. "You _raped her_ , and then _killed her baby_!"

There was a moment of stunned silence, and Merlin shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably. " _Rape_ is a very strong word, my dear—"

"She said _no_."

"I owned her," Merlin snapped, glaring harshly down at the pregnant woman in Jim's arms. The old man's eyes softened briefly as his gaze flickered to her swollen belly, which she was covering protectively with her arms, the Amulet pressed between her palm and stomach. Moving his eyes back to hers, they hardened again, and he continued through gritted teeth. "She was mine to do with as I pleased. Magic requires sacrifice; the crafting of the Daylight armor and weapons required a pure, highly magical soul to anchor it. She could provide what I needed, so I made it so. How many lives have been saved in the place of the soul of one babe?"

Younger Claire shook her head, almost desperately, and her hands shook around her staff. "But you... you used Morgana's hand to craft the Amulet..."

"The _Amulet_ , yes," Merlin admitted, cringing at the reminder of his blasphemies. "But only because Ywain is the most stubborn soul I've ever encountered, pure as it is. He wouldn't submit without the anchor of his mother. That piece of Morgana's soul keeps him in line." The wizard hummed to himself, shooting Claire and Jim an annoyed look. "You say Morgana will be defeated; perhaps that is why he is being so... rebellious. He's always done his best to protect the Trollhunters, but he seems unusually fond of you two."

"Wait, wait, wait," Human Jim said, a disgusted look on his face. "Are you saying Daylight was created using the innocent soul of a _murdered baby_?!" His own Amulet mounted on his breastplate gave a light pulse as if in answer to its owner's question.

" _Murder_ is a rather harsh way of putting it," Merlin replied flippantly, though he wouldn't meet either of Trollhunter's gaze.

"Dude," Toby exclaimed, waving his hands in the air in frustration. "I suggest you get some Elixlore and scarf down a few dictionaries, because if that's what happened, then _rape_ and _murder_ are exactly the right words to use!"

"And, again," the wizard said patiently. "How many lives have been saved in the place of the soul of one babe? Even in times of war, _that_ is the strategy; sacrifice one life to save the lives of many. Without the power of Daylight, the Trollhunter never would have existed, and the world as you know it would be a very dark place right now."

"Stop," Jim said in a tired voice, standing to his feet and pulling Claire up with him. "Enough. We're not getting anywhere by continuing this right now. Let's just... let's just deal with Gato first."

"The Gyre is this way," Blinky said after a moment of tense silence, gesturing down a rocky cavern that they seemed to have found themselves in.

They walked for a few miles, climbing over fallen boulders and shimmying down a short cliff in awkward silence. Jim wondered briefly what the younger Claire had used as her emotional anchor to create the portal, or if she already knew the general location. He decided that it must be the latter, as the cavern seemed completely deserted, save for the chirps of the cave crickets.

"Wait!" Jim whispered, freezing in place. He scented the air again, his ears twitching.

"What is it, Troll Jimbo?" Toby asked, his voice louder than Jim would have preferred. Claire pressed the Amulet into his hand, and his armor summoned itself, Daylight forming in his fist. He felt a twinge of guilt and disgust with using this power, now knowing the truth of its origins, but the Amulet pulsed warmly on his chest, almost kindly, as if it actually _wanted_ to share its power with him, rather than just out of the bidding of its creator.

 _To the left_!

Jim turned, swinging his sword, and knocked the dart away before it could strike its intended target of Younger Claire. It flung off to the side, imbedding in the rock wall, which proceeded to sizzle and hiss, the rock melting into a dripping pile of acidic green magma. Younger Claire jumped back, yelping in shock, looking around frantically for the culprit.

"Show yourself!" Human Jim shouted into the darkness, his own Daylight poised and ready to fight.

"Yeah!" Toby said, probably in a braver tone than he actually felt. "If you wanna fight, then show your cowardly faces."

 _Trying to scare you._

Another _whoosh!_ of a dart sung through the air and Jim swung again, deflecting the projectile away from Blinky. The six-eyed troll jumped back with an undignified squeak, swinging his useless staff at nothing.

 _Protecting the nest_.

"What's in these caves?" Jim asked in a low, breathless voice. " _Blinky_ , what's in these caves?"

"I, uh..." Blinky stammered, his eyes darting around in thought, his fingers moving like he was thumbing through invisible books. "Well, quite some time ago, there was a... a, uh... an Elven race, if I remember correctly; Forest Elves... but they died out with the encroaching humanity. These caves were their last refuge."

 _Let her show them._

Another dart. Another swing. Another miss.

"Claire," Jim said, holding his hand back to her, his eyes never leaving the darkness. She grasped his hand tightly in hers, and he pulled her forward. They froze as a hiss rung up from the darkness, like a thousand angry wasps swarming. "It's okay. It's all right."

"Um, yeah," Human Jim gave a terrified, nervous laugh. "I don't know what kind of confidence boost I run on in the future, but this is _very far_ from _okay_ and _all right_."

"Jim?" Claire asked, her voice quiet with fear. The buzzing in the dark grew louder, more agitated.

"It's okay," he repeated, allowing Daylight to dissipate and grasping his mate's shoulders lightly, urging her in front of himself, her back pressed along his front. "It's all right. They're just protecting their nest. Remember when Steve wandered into our nest? And I nearly took his head off?"

Claire gave a choked laugh, her body trembling.

"What the heck are you _doing_?" Toby squeaked in a high, frightened voice. The others were staring at Jim like he'd lost his mind, and he saw his younger self tightening his grip on Daylight out of the corner of his eye.

"Don't attack," Jim warned. Slowly, he eased the Moonlight Bow off of Claire's back and over her head. "They're just protecting their nest. We're in _their_ territory. They're protecting their nest, just like I protected ours, remember?"

"Yeah," Claire breathed, taking the bow from him with shaking hands. "Just like our nest." She gave a nervous laugh through her nose. "You think they're half naked too?"

"Well, if they are, then I can understand why they're pissed," he replied with a smirk, stepping forward with her.

"Master Future Jim," Blinky spoke in a rapid, uncertain voice. "Perhaps if you have a plan, you wouldn't mind sharing it with the rest of us?"

"How long has it been since this Gyre has been accessed?" Jim asked instead, he and Claire taking another cautious step forward. The sound of scurrying in the distance; rocks falling, tumbling; individual breaths.

"Quite awhile," Blinky said. "The station here has been abandoned for at least a century. It's why I thought it would be a safe place to access a Gyre. It was close and likely unguarded."

" _Likely_ ," Merlin scoffed, speaking for the first time since the argument. Claire, already on edge, cringed at the wizard's voice, and Jim growled warningly.

"Just like our nest," Claire whispered to herself. Jim had never felt his mate in such a state of turmoil before. She trusted him, but she was also terrified, both from what was hidden in the dark and from whatever it was she had seen in the Shadow Realm. "It's just like our nest."

"Yes," Jim spoke, his voice quiet and calm, though he knew she could feel his fear too. "Let them know we don't mean any harm."

With shaking hands, Claire lifted the glowing Moonlight Bow up in her hands, like an offering. For a moment, the hissing and buzzing grew louder, more agitated, and then everything stopped. The silence was so thick that Jim couldn't even hear the others breathing, let alone anything emanating from the darkness.

"Cé tusa?"

All of them jumped at the voice, and Jim moved in front of Claire protectively, the bow dropping from her grasp. Before it could hit the ground, a pale hand reached out from the darkness and grabbed it. A second later, the slender body attached to the hand slunk out of the dark. She was naked and almost as tall as Jim, the only hair on her entire body growing long, thin, and flowing white from her head. Her skin was a pale and sickly green color with mottled, bruise-like marks in browns and yellows scattered across the entire expanse of her flesh. Patches of flaking and cracking skin decorated her torso and limbs, the deepest cracks weeping a brownish-black ooze, like the sap of an ill tree. Her ears were pointed, her face thin, and when Jim met her gaze, he was startled by the two pure white eyes that looked back at him.

 _Dying._

"Cé tusa?" She repeated, her voice echoing ethereally throughout the cavern, like the soft rush of a stream over pebbles.

"That's not Trollish," Younger Claire said, and Jim could hear the frown in her voice. "But it sounds familiar..."

"Cad ba mhaith leat?"

"It rather sounds like one of the human Celtic languages," Blink mused, his tone worried and thoughtful.

"Ugh," Merlin scoffed again; Jim didn't look back, but he could practically feel the wizard rolling his eyes. "It's Gaelic — the language of the Fay Folk; Morgana's ancestors."

The woman seemed to perk up at the sound of Morgana's name, and she eyed the old man briefly before returning her blank gaze back to Jim and Claire. "Is é an bhean linn."

"What is she saying?" Human Jim asked, his voice low and nervous.

Merlin _tsk_ 'ed under his tongue, his tone suggesting that he might be glowering at the creature. "She seems to think Claire is Elven, likely due to the combination of magics she exudes, along with the elemental nature of that bow."

"Cad is ainm duit?" The woman said, her voice lilting as if she were asking a question. As the words left her mouth, she raised her free hand, palm up, toward Claire.

"She's asking your name," Merlin translated, clearly annoyed and reluctant to be the inadvertent translator. Jim tossed another warning growl over his shoulder; thankfully, the creature seemed to realize that his agitation wasn't directed at her. "Introduce yourself. _Tá mé_..."

"T-Tá mé Claire," Claire replied, her voice tripping with her nerves.

"Claire..." the creature repeated in a wondering voice. A collective breath of relief was heaved when her pale and chapped lips smiled kindly at them. Curling the fingers of her raised hand, the woman beckoned Claire closer. "An mbeann tú beannacht orm, Mo Mhuire?"

At this, Merlin made a strange noise in the back of his throat, almost like he was choking back some kind of anguished emotion. "Sh-she must think you are Morrígan."

"Morgana?" Claire gasped, startled. "No, I'm not—"

"No," Merlin interjected with a shaky breath. " _Morrígan_. The Celtic goddess that represents the cycle of life. She... she's asking your permission to pass — to die."

"What?" Jim breathed, his eyes wide, and his heart wrenching. "But why—"

"Cén fáth ar mhaith leat bás?" The wizard interrupted, addressing the woman.

Her white gaze drifted over Jim's shoulder to look at Merlin, her bottom lip cracking as she frowned at the wizard. She seemed not to notice the sap welling up from the fresh wound. "Is mise an ceann deireanach. Ba mhaith liom a bheith páirteach i mo theaghlach."

Merlin was silent for a moment, and then he translated the woman's words directly, anguish in his voice. "'I am the last. I wish to join my family.'"

"Ask her how long she's been the last," Jim instructed, softening his voice as he added, "please."

"Cá fhad a bhí tú féin?"

"Tá dhá chéad deich mbliana tar éis dul ar aghaidh."

"Ah," Merlin sighed in a choking tone. "She says two hundred ten winters have gone by."

"Deis dom a fhágáil, Mo Mhuire," the Elven woman spoke again, sap beginning to flow from her eyes like tears. "Lig dom chuid eile."

Claire gently pushed Jim out of her way, and he watched carefully as she stepped forward and softly took the woman's outstretched hand in her own.

"There's nothing you can do," Merlin said, an undercurrent of some kind of bitter emotion in his voice. "She's asking you to grant her leave. Unless you're willing to put an arrow through her head, there's nothing you can do."

A collective gasp rung through them, and Claire made a choked sound in the back of her throat, tears gathering in her eyes once more.

"We're wasting time," the wizard went on, ignoring the tense emotions in the air. "She's too weak to attack us; let us leave."

 _Help her._

Jim hesitated for a moment, feeling Claire's anguish and helplessness in their bond. Summoning Daylight again, Jim spoke to Merlin without averting his gaze from the sad, lonely creature in front of him. "Tell her I'll do it. Tell her I'll help her pass."

"What?!" Human Jim yelped, his voice terrified. "Have I gone _insane_? She's not an enemy! You can't _kill_ her! I _protect_ people."

"She's suffering," Jim replied in a shaky voice. He had never killed a sentient being that wasn't an enemy. "She made a request. I can't refuse."

"Her _request_ is to _die_ ," Toby squeaked, his voice frantic. All the while, the woman held Claire's hand, crying tears of infected sap as she allowed Jim's mate to comfort her as best as she could. "She's killing herself _through you_."

"She's already dying," explained Jim, trying to infuse a sense of calm into his voice. "She's sick and alone. She's only asking us to end her suffering. Merlin."

Merlin sighed, "Are you sure, Trollhunter?"

"Tell her."

Jim felt Merlin come forward slowly, stopping just short of standing at his side. The wizard sighed again, the tone resigned, before speaking, "Deontaíonn máthair duit saoire, iníon an domhain." Merlin paused for a moment as the woman beamed, her expression relieved, and then the old man gestured to Jim. "Cabhróidh an t-Athair leat sosa."

The woman tightened her grip on Claire's hand briefly before letting go and stepping forward, wrapping her arms around Claire in a loose and grateful hug. "Go raibh maith agat, Máthair."

Claire made another choked sobbing sound in the back of her throat as the Elf pressed a soft kiss to her cheek and handed the bow back to her. Letting go of Jim's mate, the woman turned and stepped up to him, wrapping her arms around him in another hug. As soon as she touched him, he could feel the weakness in her limbs and the relief in the way she held herself. He hugged her back gently, allowing her to rest her head against his shoulder briefly. She lingered longer than she had with Claire, and when she stepped back, he noticed that her pale flesh was glowing with a subtle white light. Before he could react, she leant forward and pressed her lips to his cheek; he felt a soft, warm sensation rush through him, like warm water was being gently poured over him. The lingering heaviness and infection in his chest dissipated in an instant, his fever breaking and receding, and he felt an odd tingling on his neck, where his wound was miraculously healing over.

All this happened in an instant, and then she was stepping back again, the glow she had been exuding now gone. She moved to sit on her knees before him, her head bowed. "Go raibh maith agat, Athair."

Jim's heart throbbed in his chest, and he didn't need Merlin to translate to know that the woman was thanking them. Claire stepped back from them, rejoining the others in the back, and Jim raised his sword. He didn't know if she would understand Trollish, but he couldn't let her go without acknowledging her directly, in some sense. "Vertu í fri∂i."

And then he swung.

Jim heard his younger self and the others gasp and yelp as the woman's head rolled away from her collapsed body, her sap-like blood spattering across his armor and face. Instead of turning to stone, like a troll's body would, her body turned a rich brown, hard and chipped like bark. Branches, vines, and colorful flowers sprouted from her, her long hair turning green and curling into vibrant and thick leaves. In only a minute, there was a beautiful tree rooted into the cavern floor where the Elven body had lain. One large flower, a fluorescent orange color and shaped like a pitcher plant, bloomed at the forefront of the tree. Sparkling in the limited light provided by Daylight, Jim saw a shimmering amber crystal resting inside, as if a gift. Stepping forward, he carefully picked the gem out of the bloom, sensing a familiar power emanating from it.

"Shall we move on?" Merlin interrupted Jim's contemplation after a moment, placing a gentle hand on the future Trollhunter's shoulder. Jim was half-tempted to jerk away from the touch, but he recognized the sadness and regret in the old man's voice.

"Yeah. Let's go."

 _To be continued..._

╫ _I'm afraid I only knew a few phrases in Gaelic (Irish), so I relied heavily on Google Translate, so please forgive me if the translations aren't exactly spot on._

 _"Vertu í fri∂a." = "Be at peace." (Icelandic)_

 _"Go raibh maith agat, Máthair." = "Thank you, Mother." (Gaelic)_

 _"Go raibh maith agat, Athair." = "Thank you, Father." (Gaelic)_

 _"Iníon an domhain." = "Daughter of the earth." (Gaelic)_

╬ _REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!_ ╬


	15. Chapter Fifteen

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

► _Thank you all for your wonderful comments, and I hope you'll continue giving such great and helpful feedback! Enjoy the next chapter, my loves!_

 **Chapter Fifteen**

The rest of the walk through the cavern to the Gyre was made in uncomfortable silence, but Jim didn't have the chance to feel guilty when Claire walked by his side, pulling his arm around her shoulders. She hugged herself to his side, ignoring the blood still spattered across him.

"Love you," Jim murmured in a voice so quiet, he knew Claire would be the only one to hear it.

"I'm so proud of you," she replied in an equally as quiet voice, but he could hear and feel the honesty and love in her words. "I know how hard that was for you."

Jim tightened his arm around his wife, grateful for her words and understanding. He knew that he was likely to fall apart later, but for the moment, he had to focus on their current goal.

The Gyre was in poor shape, but it was still able to make the run. It was a tight fit with three and a half trolls and four and a half humans. Claire shuffled around awkwardly, trying to make herself as small as possible, which really _wasn't_ possible at all. In the end, Jim braced her between AAARRRGGHH! and himself, the giant troll wrapping a protective arm around her. It had been months since Jim and Claire had been subjected to a Gyre ride, but one agonizingly twisty and bumpy ride later, they were quickly reminded of why it was one of their least favorite modes of transportation.

"I feel ya, sister," Toby groaned, rubbing his stomach and watching as Jim held Claire's hair back as she hurled into the lava pit.

"Hate Gyre," AAARRRGGHH! moaned sympathetically, the ground shaking as he stumbled dizzily.

"But it _is_ the most efficient mode of transportation," Blinky said brightly, holding up a finger as if to punctuate his point. "...and you can't say that it's not exciting!"

Claire heaved again, and Jim glared at the six-eyed troll in exasperation.

"Kid's probably doing some more summersaults," Human Jim laughed softly, his expression concerned and a little green.

"How ever you're going to make it up to future me, it better be good," said Younger Claire, elbowing her boyfriend playfully.

Jim chuckled as Claire stood up, panting and wiping her mouth with the back of her arm. "Whatever you want."

"Don't tell me that," Younger Claire teased. "I might ask for a bathtub of gauc."

Her older self laughed breathlessly, and gave her younger self and her boyfriend a sly look. "No, no gauc."

"I thought you loved gauc?" Human Jim asked with a confused look between the two Claires.

Claire smirked, laughing slightly. "I do... but I love your tongue more."

Human Jim and Younger Claire turned bright red, almost disappearing into the color of the surrounding magma. Toby fell into another fit of laughter, bracing himself against a very confused AAARRRGGHH! Blinky cocked his head to the side, his six eyes winking out of sync.

"I was under the impression that modern humans no longer participated in acts of cannibalism? Is it used as a form of retribution between mates?"

"No, that's not what she—" Human Jim began, cutting himself off and rubbing a hand down his face in exasperation. "Never mind."

Jim smiled, shaking his head in amusement before leaning over his mate's shoulder and hugging her from behind. Offering a gentle lick to the underside of her chin, he quietly repeated, "Whatever you want."

Claire smirked, but shook her head. "I owe you a birthday present first."

"Ugh, I hate birthdays," Human Jim mumbled on instinct, and his girlfriend laughed, elbowing him playfully again.

"From the tone of her voice, something tells me you'll probably enjoy that one."

"Ugh," Toby groaned, rolling his eyes at his best friends. "It was funnier when you two were getting all embarrassed."

"Shall we press on already?" Merlin interrupted, having remained silent since the cavern. His voice was tired, but not impatient. "I suspect Gato will not be an easy sell."

"Unfortunately, you would be correct," Blinky replied in a grim voice, taking the lead as they left the Gyre station. "Gato is... well, he's not particularly fond of us."

"Yeah," Toby laughed childishly. "You could say that we've been a real pain in his—"

"TOBY!"

"Er... speaking of which, maybe we should keep the fact that you're the future us on the down low," Human Jim said, giving his future self a nervous look.

"And, what? Future Claire is _our_ Claire's twin sister?" Toby said sarcastically. "He's an idiot, but I don't think he'll buy that."

"Wait," Claire said, lifting her hands to her hair to remove her hair clips. She'd abandoned her hoodie back at the house; it was mid-winter in their time, but summer here. Not to mention that going into the center of a volcano was not an ideal place for warm clothing. She had been able to steal a pair of boxers from his younger self to wear as shorts, and she'd taken the undershirt that Jim had been wearing from the wash, which was large enough to cover her, even if the material clung to her like a second skin. Shaking her hair loose and running her fingers through it, it was revealed that her hair was longer than her past self's, reaching down past her shoulders, curling softly at the ends. Pulling her hair over her shoulders, she let it cover her chest, her white streak tucked carefully under the brown. "I know it's not much, but that might help, right?"

Jim's appearance was easy enough to disguise as long as he didn't wear his armor. He'd thrown his cargos back on, but his chest was still bare, his scars on full display for anyone to know that he had seen battle. If anything, he could at least be intimidating, even if he and Claire hung back and remained quiet. He entrusted the Amulet back to his mate, relieved to know that it would extend its protection to her, if things didn't go as planned.

"You've got your tacos, Tobias?" Blinky asked.

"Diablo Maximus with _three_ ghost peppers!" Toby confirmed, patting the side pocket on his backpack reassuringly. "And I even packed a handful of Hell Fire Triple Meltdown Sauce packets! Guaranteed to make your tongue bleed, or you get your money back!"

"Ouch," AAARRRGGHH! grumbled, holding his stomach and cringing.

"Where are all the trolls?" Human Jim wondered aloud as they noticed a distinct lack of Gato's minions around.

"For that matter," Jim began, pointing up toward the mountainous pile of igneous rock that usually housed the troll elder's spirit. There was no life present in the stone. "Where the heck is Gato?"

"Hmm," Merlin mumbled to himself, some of his attitude returning. "It would seem that we've made this disaster of a trip for nothing."

"No, this could actually work," Younger Claire said, her staff beginning to blacken in her hand. Claire grabbed Jim's hand in her own, eyeing her younger self nervously. "If he's not home, we can portal into his Keep, find what we need, and portal out without him ever knowing we were here in the first place!"

"Okay, but what if he comes home while we're in there?" Toby asked, biting his lip anxiously. "The dude can tell when he's got... um, well... _intruders_. I really don't want to be digested without warning."

"Fair point, Tobias," Blinky replied with a thoughtful look.

"I'm not too keen on going into another portal," Claire said, squeezing Jim's hand, her fingers trembling. Her rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb soothingly. "I can stay here and keep an eye out. If anything, I can distract him long enough to give you some extra time, if he comes back."

"Not by yourself," Jim said, ignoring the exasperated look she gave him. "I'll—"

"No, I'll stay with her," Human Jim said, much to everyone's surprise. "If Gato comes back, he'll at least recognize me. He'll be less likely to attack me right away than he would a couple of strangers."

"I don't know, Jimbo," Toby said, frowning. "You weren't exactly on his friends list the last time we saw him."

"That was before Gunmar took over Trollmarket," Human Jim replied, shaking his head. "Gato's a jerk, but he wouldn't follow Gunmar, which means that he'll hopefully give us a chance to talk before attacking."

"I don't know..." Jim said, eyeing his younger self nervously. It was a weird feeling, not trusting himself.

"I'm not helpless," Claire reminded him with a gentle smile. "And human or troll, you've always kept us safe."

"Should I be jealous of myself?" Jim teased, laughing as his younger self blushed, but grinned.

"Oh, don't worry," Claire replied, smirking slyly. "I'll just give your younger self some... advice."

"Should _I_ be jealous of myself?" Younger Claire laughed.

"Okay, this four-way flirting is getting weird," Toby interrupted with a snorted laugh. "Let's go, so we can get outta here _before_ he gets back."

Claire snorted her own laugh and then let go of Jim's hand, offering him his Amulet with the other. Silently, he took it from her, his armor materializing around him in an instant. Reaching up and grasping his horns, she yanked his head down to plant a hot kiss on his lips, and he laughed into her mouth.

"Later," Jim promised as he pulled back with a smirk. He caught his younger self watching out of the corner of his eye, but the boy turned away with a blush when he noticed that he'd been caught.

"Let's hurry," Younger Claire said, and a second later, an inky black portal was swirling in the space before them.

Blinky, Merlin, AAARRRGGHH!, and Toby passed through without hesitation, and Jim was quick to follow, Younger Claire falling in after him. Floating in the blackness of the Shadow Realm was always disorienting, but he was surprised to find that it was even weirder having Claire next to him, when she wasn't really _his_ Claire. She didn't carry his scent, like his mate did, and she didn't carry the cinnamon scent of their daughter, and yet she _was_ the same person. Having the two Claires in the same area was weird, but he was easily able to separate the two; one was his mate, while the other was not. Alone, it was different; she was still the woman he loved, after all, just not the woman he was bound to — yet, anyway.

The exiting portal was much closer this time, so they were only immersed in the Shadow Realm for a few seconds before being flung out into Gato's belly. Jim was relieved to see that the lava acid was relatively low in comparison to the one other time he'd been in there, and far less agitated.

"What, exactly, are we looking for?" Jim asked, looking around at all of the various objects.

"Anything that might look..." Blinky paused for a moment, thinking. "...time-ish."

"Seriously?" Younger Claire said, crossing her arms over her chest, a sarcastic look on her face.

"Indeed."

"All right," Toby said, his expression determined. "But I call dibs on any blue police boxes we find."

"I fear that might be one of those future analogies that I'm unlikely to understand," Merlin said, rolling his eyes. "For reference, time magic is usually contained in a trigger object."

"Like a Kairosect?" Toby said, frowning. "Or the tile in your dungeon thingy?"

"That is the general concept," the wizard nodded, glancing around. "But don't disregard anything that might look somewhat time related — books, potions, anything."

"Watch?" AAARRRGGHH! grunted, holding up a dented pocket watch on a rusted chain. Merlin gave the object the barest glance.

"That is merely a hunk of metal."

AAARRRGGHH! frowned in disappointment and dropped the watch back onto the floor. "This gonna be hard."

"Great," Jim sighed, rolling his eyes. Turning, he leapt toward a pile of coins, gems, and general junk by the far wall and fell into his natural crouch. As he began to sort through the objects, his ears caught the sound of light footsteps coming up behind him. It was hard to scent the others over the strong scent of charcoal and sulfur in the chamber, but he knew it was the younger Claire, which was only confirmed when she sat on her knees by his side and silently began looking through the same pile. They sorted through the junk, tossing this, or setting aside that in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, but Jim could almost feel the curious glances that she was giving him, and he knew her well enough to know that she was dying to talk.

"All right, spit it out," Jim said with a laugh, his voice quiet so as not to catch the others' attention. He smiled at the embarrassed look she gave him, idly playing with a rugged gem that she had picked up.

"Am I that obvious?" Claire asked, biting her lip.

"I just know you," Jim shrugged. He wanted to reach over and grasp her hand, but he held back on the desire, not wanting to scare her. Her Jim was still very much human, after all, and he didn't want to trip Claire out before she was ready.

They sorted in silence for another minute, the tension growing from her as she seemed to struggle with what she wanted to say. He waited patiently until, finally, she blurted, "Were you angry with me?"

"What?" Jim looked up, startled. She was avoiding his gaze, her eyes riveted on the same gem that she had been playing with for the past few minutes. "Why the heck would I be angry with you?"

Claire opened her mouth and then closed it again, struggling for words as her cheeks reddened. "It's just... we're sixteen."

"...yeah?" he replied, not quite sure what she was getting at. "That's not something either of us can help."

"No, I mean..." she shook her head, biting her lip nervously. "It's not like... I mean... I know I won't remember any of this, so it's not like I can _change_ it, but... if I... I _trapped_ you..."

It took him a minute to catch on, but once he did, he dropped the geode in his hands in shock. "The baby?"

Claire's blush deepened, but she nodded. "I'm sor—"

"Don't," Jim interrupted in a quiet, but hard voice. He sighed, finally giving in and reaching over to grasp her hand in his. She didn't cringe back from his thicker skin or his four fingers, looking down to study the appendage with gentle caresses of her own fingers. "I know it must seem strange, like we were just... getting wild, I guess... but it wasn't like that. It won't _be_ like that."

She remained silent for a minute, her hand tightening around his. "...what do you mean?"

"We'll..." he hesitated for a moment, not quite sure how in depth he should take the conversation. True, in a little less than a month for her, she and her boyfriend would be living together, essentially as if married. In a little less than a month, she was going to be pregnant; however, for that moment, the girl next to him was just that: a girl, and a child in so many ways. "How much do you want to know?"

Claire looked up at him. Despite her blush, he could see the steely determination in her eyes. "It's me, Jim. I'm yours, no matter how much time has gone by; so, tell me everything."

Jim smirked, snorting a laugh through his nose. "She wasn't an accident."

Claire frowned, "Wha—"

"Pumpkin," Jim interrupted without thinking, and then corrected himself with another laugh. "The baby. She wasn't an accident or mistake. We..." he felt his face heat up in slight embarrassment. "We... I knew that you were going to get pregnant, and I made sure you knew too. You'll... you'll know before..."

Claire was silent for a moment, thinking over what he had told her. He took it as a good sign that she hadn't let go of his hand. "So... you get me pregnant on purpose?"

Jim cringed, even though he could hear the joking tone in Claire's voice. "Please don't say it like that."

Claire laughed, squeezing his hand. "So... I guess you're not angry then."

"Never," he replied, shaking his head in amusement.

"So... may I ask something else, then?"

"Sure."

"Um..." she was being shy again, glancing away, and he squeezed her hand lightly, reassuringly. "So... you're... _this_ you is... a lot more affectionate to me — uh, her — whatever."

He frowned, giving her a curious look. "How so?" Laughing, he added, "I know the younger me hasn't said it yet, but he's completely in love with you, so don't worry that I didn't feel just as strongly then as I do now."

Claire beamed at the admittance, but shook her head as she spoke. "Thank you... but that's not exactly what I meant. It's just... I noticed... I mean..."

"Spit it out," Jim laughed again, leaning over to gently bump her shoulder with his.

Blushing, but smiling, she said, "You kiss each other... and that's not different... but... well, I guess what I mean is... I noticed that you... lick her chin a lot. Is that a troll thing?"

"Ah," Jim laughed nervously, leaning back slightly. "...sort of. You know trolls are more physically affectionate than humans; a lot of things can be said or conveyed through touch and body language." Claire nodded, listening raptly. "And... well, I was pretty affectionate as a human, so that part of me just kind of... intensified, I guess."

"Licking?" Claire asked, a slight laugh in her voice. She wasn't making fun of him, he could tell, but it was likely an odd concept for her.

"...it's sort of how I let you know that I want to give you affection," Jim told her, averting his eyes back to the pile of junk in front of him. He used his free hand to sort through a few more objects, none of which looked even remotely time related.

"Okay..." she said, dragging the word out in clear confusion, though she seemed pleased that he had admitted to wanting to be affectionate with her. He bit back an amused snort, knowing that she had mistaken his wording for something much more innocent than what he had meant. "You can kiss and cuddle me anytime."

Jim laughed, leaning over to press a quick, innocent kiss to her cheek, whispering in her ear, "A more _specific_ type of affection than just kisses and cuddles."

" _Oh_."

He snickered at the embarrassed smile she was giving him. "Yeah."

"Do I..." Claire trailed off, her throat bobbing as she swallowed back her nerves. "Do I lick you too?"

"Sometimes," Jim replied, shrugging slightly. "You prefer to nuzzle and bite my neck when you want to be intimate."

"R-really?" Her face was red again, and he smiled fondly.

"Well, you saw," he admitted, his own sense of shyness coming over him as he glanced away from her and back again. "I kind of... lose it a bit... when teeth get involved — which you like to use to your advantage."

Claire snickered. "I noticed that. So..." she glanced away again. "...what else do you do to let me know you want to be... _affectionate_? Just so I know for the future."

He snorted at the mischievousness in her voice and expression. "Mmm... aside from throwing you over my shoulder and running off with you?"

"Um..." Claire laughed, her blush deepening.

Jim shrugged again, smiling. "Just little stuff, I guess... I build our nest a certain way, so you'll be comfortable."

"You said that before," she interjected with a thoughtful expression. "About nests... and something about Steve..."

Jim growled at the reminder, but shook the thought away with a huff, attempting to answer her unasked question. "You haven't noticed yet. You haven't spent a whole lot of time with the trolls during the day, so you haven't seen their nests. It's... it's like our space, yours and mine... and Pumpkin's too, when she's born. Each troll family has their own nest... we get pretty territorial. The thing with Steve..." Jim gave an embarrassed laugh. "I didn't realize he was there right away, and you were still pretty much asleep and half naked... in his defense, he had no idea that he was in the middle of a troll nest, or how I would react..."

"And you nearly took his head off?" Claire giggled, biting her lip.

He shrugged once more. "I couldn't help it. It's like... there's this part of me that's definitely not human anymore. I'm still Jim, but... different. I react more on instinct than a human would. My breeding mate was asleep and defenseless and another male wondered into our space... so, yeah, I nearly took his head off."

Claire broke down into a fit of laughter, falling into his side, and he couldn't help but feel relieved that she wasn't weirded out by him, even though he wasn't exactly _her_ Jim. "Poor Steve."

Jim growled, rolling his eyes. "He won't do it again, that's for sure."

"So, how do you build our nest, then?" Claire asked, biting her lip and hugging his arm. Jim laughed, but noted with amusement that _his_ Claire was also feeling highly amused, and he wondered if she and his younger self were having a similar conversation.

"It's not really fancy when we're traveling," Jim warned lightly, giving her an apologetic smile. "But I try to find soft areas. If we're in a forest, it's easy enough to find a bed of pine needles and leaves to build our blankets up on... it's more difficult in a cave. And usually, I'll build it further away from the rest of camp. You like access to water, so I try to find spots close to rivers or streams."

"Water?" Claire asked, confused. "Do we really go that long without it?"

"Sometimes," Jim admitted, giving her another apologetic look. "But I need water more often than a regular troll does, and Merlin needs it too, so never _too_ long. It's winter in our time, though, so it's been a while since we'd washed more than our faces and hands. The water's too cold to really bathe in."

"We're..." Claire hesitated for a moment, her expression concerned. "We're not in California anymore... are we?"

Jim shook his head, admitting quietly, "No. Right now, we're in Pennsylvania. We're trying to get to New Jersey."

"The Heartstone dies... doesn't it?"

"Yeah," he whispered sadly, glancing back toward Blinky and AAARRRGGHH!; thankfully, they were preoccupied with their own searches and not paying the least bit of attention to him and Claire.

"Do I..." Claire seemed hesitant again, but she was still leaning into him, her arms wrapped around his. "Do I treat you differently?"

"In what way?" Jim asked kindly, bending to nuzzle the top of her head affectionately.

"Like... I noticed that I grab your horns a lot," she explained, giggling a little. "I don't know if I should apologize in advance for that, or...?"

"Nah," Jim laughed, shrugging. "You bite them too."

"What?" Claire jerked back a little, startled.

"Yeah," he said, bending his head to show her his horns, lifting his hand to finger the slight teeth marks left in the hard keratin. Her hand joined his, and she stared at the marks in shock.

"Why on earth would I—"

"When I... um," Jim began, laughing nervously. "Again, how much do you want to know?"

"You can tell me anything," Claire said, her expression honest and concerned.

He snorted another laugh, shaking his head. "You're way too innocent." Before she could question his statement, Jim barreled on in a quiet voice, meant only for her. "When we're being intimate, and I lick you, you tend to curl around me and bite down on one of my horns." She looked slightly horrified at this revelation, her fingers moving over the marks as if to soothe over a wound. He caught her hand in his, bringing it back down to press against his breastplate. "It doesn't hurt me. It's just keratin, so I can't feel anything in them." Jim shrugged, glancing away and back again. "I... I like having your marks on me."

Claire smiled slightly, lifting her hand to caress his cheek gently. "So... what do _I_ do then? When I want... _affection_?"

Jim smirked, shaking his head. "You're not going to remember any of this."

"Maybe I will subconsciously," she replied with an amused smile and a shrug of her own.

Chuckling, Jim indulged her curiosity. "Well... you're usually more direct than I am. You'll tell me or... touch me. Plus, I have a way better sense of smell now, so I can tell by your scent when you want to be... _affectionate_." He chuckled at their euphemism. "If you're trying to be subtle, you make these little whines in the back of your throat that you know I'll respond to."

"How do I know to do that?" Claire wondered, more to herself than to him.

"You've heard me do the same, probably," he replied. He picked up a curse box and carefully set it aside to avoid accidentally opening it. "I do things like that without thinking, and you've just sort of... picked up my habits, I guess."

"But I guess things are... different... with me — her — being pregnant..." she said, frowning slightly.

"Why do you think that?" He asked, bumping her shoulder again. "Stop thinking we're the average teenaged couple; it's completely different than that. You're my mate, my wife... you're beautiful and amazing, and I am so happy and proud of what we've accomplished together."

"This looks promising!"

Jim looked up and away from his mate's younger self at the voice. Merlin was standing across the chamber, a large book in his hands; he flipped through the pages, studying them intently. Standing, he and Claire made their way over to the wizard, the others also gathering around him.

"What is it?" Blinky asked, looking over the old man's shoulder. Merlin frowned and held the book to his chest, like a child reluctant to share his toy.

"It discusses different Time Magics, and their applications," the wizard explained. "Generally, magics that have to do with Time consist primarily of ways to pause it for a time, or allow certain objects to turn back their own life cycle."

"Like your room in the Geode Caverns?" Jim asked, frowning in thought. "It was like the room and all of the objects had been transported into the past."

"Indeed," Merlin nodded. "That spell was anchored to a trigger — the floor tile. And it wasn't that the room was sent back into the past; the spell made it so that the room and all of the objects within turned back on their life cycles, restoring themselves to younger versions."

"How is that going to help, then?" Claire asked, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring slightly at the old man. "We want to send them _forward_ , not turn back their life cycles."

"Or turn _forward_ their life cycles," Toby added, his expression concerned. "What would happen to their baby, if that happened?"

Jim tensed, looking to Merlin with wide, fearful eyes.

"The child would be unlikely to survive that type of spell," the wizard stated in a grim voice, and Jim's body jerked at the words, his heart pounding.

"Then we can't—"

Merlin held up a hand to stem Jim's protests. "Indeed, I would suggest that that type of spell would be highly inadvisable. Whatever magical combination that resulted in your time travel, we will never be able to recreate; however, it seems that there is a potion that can be used to give glimpses of the future. I believe, with a bit of tinkering, I may be able to adjust the recipe enough to allow the potion to return you to your correct place in Time and Space."

"Will we end up going back — uh, forward — to the exact moment that we were sent back?" Jim asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest and tapping nervously on his shoulder plate.

"As a general rule," Merlin said with a slightly impatient look. "Time does not like to be distorted; it will want to... fix itself, for lack of a better term. So, chances are high that you will be taken back to that moment, yes. You are not dead, so to have a space of Time where you don't exist would distort the flow of Time to a degree that it won't allow. A few seconds is one thing; any longer than that is an extreme improbability."

"But not impossible," Jim guessed, biting his lip nervously.

"As with any magic, there is risk," the wizard nodded, glancing down at the book again. "I will need a bit of time to study the text and make the necessary adjustments to the potion. That's to say nothing of obtaining the ingredients themselves." The old man gave a resigned sigh. "We should get back immediately and get started."

"Let's hurry back to Jim and the other Claire, then," Toby said excitedly. "With any luck, we'll avoid Gato altogether."

"You mean something will actually go _right_ for a change?" Claire laughed, summoning another portal, and they didn't hesitate to fall through it.

Jim was eager to get back to his mate, so he was the first one through. When he emerged from the exiting portal, he couldn't help but laugh at the scene that greeted him. His Claire was leaning back against a rock, speaking quietly with his younger self. His armor was gone, and he was blushing furiously, but staring in fascination at the hand that he had pressed on top of Claire's swollen belly. Human Jim jumped back, throwing his hands behind his back, when he heard Jim laugh, his blush deepening like he had been caught messing around with another woman.

"I wasn't — we weren't—"

Jim laughed again, catching his mate's mischievous expression. "Have you been corrupting my poor, innocent younger self?"

"Of course," Claire replied with a smirk, coming up to Jim and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Standing on her tip toes, she tilted her head and nuzzled his neck, licking his chin. He laughed as he was reminded of the conversation with her own younger self, and returned the gesture mischievously. He idly wondered what it would take to get some privacy when they got back to Arcadia.

"Ugh, I think I prefer Embarrassed Jim and Claire over Lusty Jim and Claire," Toby said, playfully gagging.

"So, don't hate me," Younger Claire said hesitantly to her older self. "But I really think we should just portal home instead of Gyre-ing halfway, like we did when we came in."

Claire frowned, her arms tightening around Jim, wincing a little as Pumpkin gave a hard kick, which Jim felt as well, from the way her stomach was pressed to his. Giving her an apologetic grin, Jim said, "I think you might be outvoted on this one."

Stepping back and dropping a hand down to rub the spot where the baby had kicked, Claire gave a reluctant sigh, and then held out her hand to him. "Amulet?"

Jim laughed, disengaging the Amulet from his breastplate, the armor dissipating. Handing it over to his mate, the dial turned on its own, and she was once again covered in a fine mist of Daylight.

Thankfully, the return trip was made without incident. Claire clung to Jim, her eyes squeezed shut the entire time they were in the Shadow Realm, but she didn't experience another memory attack, which everyone was relieved about. Jim had no desire to ever feel his mate's soul ripped from his ever again. When they all tumbled from the exiting portal and back into the Lake's living room, dusk had just fallen, and he could hear Barbara moving around in the kitchen.

Obviously, his younger self heard it too, because he got a horrified look on his face and rushed over to the bar window. "Mom! You're not cooking, are you? I'll—"

"Oh, hush, Jim!" Barbara laughed, waving off her son's concern. "I'm perfectly capable of making—"

There was a loud crash of shattering plates as Barbara dropped the dinnerware that she had been carrying, her eyes wide as she took in the sight of Jim's mate in all of her very visible pregnant glory.

"Um..." Claire laughed, leaning into Jim's side nervously. "Would it help to tell you that future you actually took this news fairly well?"

"Mom!"

Human Jim caught his mother in his arms before she could hit the floor in a dead faint.

 _To be continued..._

¤ _You **know** the younger Claire and Jim would be dying to ask all those naughty questions!_

╬ _REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!_ ╬


	16. Chapter Sixteen

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

 _I'm so sorry for the later than usual update, my loves. I'm at the beach, and I haven't had time to sit and write for long periods of time, like I do when I'm at home. Hopefully, the longer chapter length will make up for my transgressions. Enjoy, my loves!_

 **Chapter Sixteen**

"Maybe she'll think it was all a really vivid dream?" Jim said, a playfully hopeful tone in his voice.

Claire laughed, gently wiping the dried blood from his face with a wet cloth. "And we'll just hide in the bathroom until they manage to make that potion to send us home? I think your mom will probably want to pee at some point."

He chuckled, giving his mate a fond look. "At least we know that she won't _completely_ flip on us."

For a moment, Claire's expression hardened, a pulse of anger shooting through their bond. "Like my mother, you mean?"

"No!" Jim hurried to explain, shaking his head. "That's not what I—"

"I know," she responded in a soft voice, her smile sad and apologetic. "I'm sorry... it just hurts still." She shook her head, her voice tight as she gave a bitter laugh. "She won't even let dad put Enrique on the phone. It's... it's like I'm _dead_ to her."

Jim shook his head, pulling his mate into a gentle hug as they sat together on the bathroom floor. "She'll come around."

"We both know that she won't," Claire murmured into his chest, her lips pressed to the scar over his heart. He could feel the pain she felt at her mother's rejection, and he could feel the wetness of her tears against his skin. After a moment, she leaned back with a watery laugh, lifting the rag in her hand to continue cleaning his face. "It doesn't matter. We have our own family."

"Claire..." Jim sighed, reaching forward to cup her face and wipe her tears away with his thumbs. "I'm sorry..."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Claire replied, honesty and love flowing from her through their bond. "She made her choice, and yes, it breaks my heart that she's rejected me, us, our children, but... I would rather have her outright rejection than have her pretend to care when she really doesn't."

Jim shook his head again, sighing. "But you miss your brother..."

"I do," Claire nodded, her eyes watching her hand moving over his chin. "But even if I never see him again, at least I know that we did everything we could to keep him safe. He may never know how much I love him, but at least I know that he'll be safe." She snorted a laugh. "Besides, NotEnrique isn't half bad, as far as fake siblings go... but don't tell him I said that."

Jim snickered, leaning forward to press a soft kiss to his wife's forehead. "God forbid he know you love him."

"Please," Claire laughed, rolling her eyes. "He knows — that's how he always ends up getting his own way."

He suppressed another amused smile, and they lapsed into a comfortable silence as she tried to clean the sticky, sap-like blood from his thick skin. She would have rubbed his skin raw already, had his skin not been so thickened. The stubbornness of the Elven blood sticking to his flesh reminded Jim of the incident in the cavern, and his heart lurched.

"You did the right thing," Claire murmured quietly, her free hand grasping one of his comfortingly.

"Then why do I feel so guilty?" Jim laughed, his voice choked and slightly bitter. "She was the last of her kind, and I _killed her_."

Claire shook her head, almost frantically. "No. _No_. You _know_ she was suffering. Forcing her to linger all alone and dying slowly would have been cruel. You gave her peace."

Jim choked, surprised to find his eyes blurring with tears. True, he had known that he wasn't going to be completely unaffected by what had transpired, but he hadn't expected that he would be on the verge of falling apart.

"Shh..." Claire murmured, dropping the cloth in her hand and leaning up on her knees to wrap her arms around his shoulders. Burying her face into his neck, she nuzzled him gently as his own arms tightened around her body. "I'm so proud of you."

Jim couldn't bring himself to say anything as he buried his face in her loose hair, letting her comfort him. She was right, he knew; giving the Elven woman death had been the right thing to do, rather than allow her to suffer, sick and alone. Still, his heart broke over the woman's suffering, but he was confident in his choice, even if it had been one the most painful ones that he had ever made. They sat like that for several minutes, until Jim's tears ebbed, and then they held each other in silence, Claire's fingers playing lightly in his scruff. She nuzzled him again, nipping lightly at his neck, and he gave an unconscious whine in response.

"Maybe I can make a nest out in the woods tonight," Jim murmured quietly to his mate, returning her affectionate request with his own nuzzle and a quick lick to her chin.

Claire's arms tightened around him, and he could smell her increasingly needy scent as she whimpered against his neck, nipping lightly again. "Now."

"Claire..." Jim swallowed roughly against the desire building in him, trying to lessen the volume of the growl he was emanating. "We're not alone..."

"Door's locked," was her short reply before her nipping became a more forceful bite.

"N-not here," Jim tried again, breathless in desire, but proud of himself for not giving in to her enticements. "Baby, please..."

Breathing deeply, Claire leaned back from him, her body trembling in desire. He could both feel and smell how much she needed his attention, and he was dying to throw caution out the window and take her right then and there, but the reminder of the others just downstairs stalled him. Speaking of windows, though...

Thankfully, darkness had fully fallen in the time that they had gotten back from Gato's, so it was easy enough for Jim to steal a couple of blankets and disappear into the surrounding woods with his mate. As much as they wanted each other, Jim knew that it would be extremely dangerous to wander too far with Gumm-Gumms on the loose, especially since mating would leave them even more vulnerable. He didn't take her too far into the woods, but they couldn't see the neighborhood lights anymore, and he could only hear the chirps of night bugs, rather than the voices of people. Finding a patch of soft clover, he set Claire down on her feet and spread their stolen blankets out in the way he knew that she liked. When he turned back to her, he was only slightly surprised to find that she'd already removed all of her clothes.

"Honey, it's okay..." Jim tried to soothe his mate as she flung herself into his arms, pressing her lips insistently to his as they kneeled amongst the blankets. "Slow down..."

Claire whined slightly, pressing herself as close to him as possible. "I need you..."

And Jim could feel, both physically and through their soul bond, that she really _did_ need him. The rush of hormones brought on because of the pregnancy had the added bonus of making her a lot more... _affectionate_. Jim bit back a laugh at the thought, trailing his mouth across his mate's pale flesh, nipping and sucking on her favorite spots and delighting in the pleasured noises that she was making. Claire's hands fumbled at the fasteners on his cargos, but he pulled back out of her reach in shock when his lips met the outer swell of her left breast.

"What's wrong?" Claire panted, trying to yank him back to her by the grip she had on his unbuttoned pants.

"They're bigger!" Jim blurted, staring down at Claire's breasts. They hadn't made love in a couple of weeks because of him being sick, but he was fairly certain that his wife's chest had been significantly smaller in the few times that he'd caught glimpses of her in the time between.

A look of surprise crossed Claire's face as she also looked down at her breasts. Lifting her hands to cup herself, she winced a little as she put pressure on herself. "I was wondering why they've been so sore..."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Jim replied in concern, bringing his left hand up to gently ghost over the outer swell of her right breast. "Your bras are probably too tight."

Claire nodded absently, still looking down at herself, poking the sides of her breasts and gently pinching her nipples. "They feel bruised."

"Guess I shouldn't play with them, then," he joked, snickering as he leant forward to catch her lips in a chaste kiss. "Damn. They look like fun too."

Claire laughed and rolled her eyes. Lifting her arms to wrap around his neck, she pressed her body as close to his as she could, murmuring against his lips, "You'll be the first to know when they're ready be played with again."

Jim laughed, letting his wife finish undressing him. Within minutes, she was sprawled on her back in the middle of their temporary nest, moaning and gasping as he kept his earlier promise, his mouth working overtime to give her the most pleasure that he could. Admittedly, that was an infinitely easier feat to accomplish when he had her own feelings through their bond telling him exactly what movements she preferred. Just before she released, Jim pulled back from her, panting and growling in an attempt to stave off both of their orgasms.

" _Jim_!" Claire whined, half furious. He laughed breathlessly, leaning over his mate's prone body to gently nuzzle her belly.

"Don't you owe me a birthday present?" he teased, pressing innocent kisses across the stretched skin of her stomach.

"Ugh, you're such a butt!" Claire laughed in frustrated amusement. Sitting up, she tried to push him back, and he allowed himself to fall back onto his rear to give her the illusion of power. Crawling between his spread legs and leaning over him, she smirked. "And what does my mate want for his birthday?"

"Shouldn't that be a surprise?" Jim grinned, leaning forward to lick her lips. Softening his expression and voice for a moment, he cupped her face in one hand, murmuring, "You've already given me the best gifts that I could have ever asked for."

"Sap," she replied, her teasing smirk smoothing into a loving smile. She met his tongue gently with her own for a deep and sloppy kiss. Pulling back slightly, she smiled shyly at him, not quite meeting his eyes. "Do... do you want my mouth?"

Jim tensed, surprised. She'd done that a few times for him, but not since the baby had become heavier, throwing her balance off. Even if he laid down, the bending movements were uncomfortable for her in her current state, straining her back and neck. Whatever pleasure he got from the act — which, of course, was a great deal — wasn't worth her discomfort.

"Maybe next time," Jim said, laughing softly.

"But you like it," Claire argued, giving him a petulant look. Nuzzling his neck, nipping at his flesh again, she continued in a seductive voice, "...I like it too."

"Yeah, I do," he admitted, his hand moving to cup one of her breasts without thinking. She hissed and jerked back at the contact, and he quickly withdrew his hand, cringing in guilt. "I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Claire breathed, her eyes clenched shut for a few more seconds. When she opened her eyes again, the pain in her gaze was gone, and she smiled at him. "Stand up."

"Claire..." Jim protested weakly, reaching out to try and take her hand and pull her back to him.

"No," she replied with a smirk, leaning further back from him. "You're not allowed to touch; now, _stand up_!"

Slightly nervous and more than a little turned on by his wife's forceful demand, Jim stumbled to his feet. He swallowed back the loud growl that wanted to erupt from his chest at the provocative sight of his very pregnant mate kneeling before him with a wicked smirk.

"Claire, you don't have t—"

"Hush, and put your hands behind your back," Claire demanded, producing her own forceful growl, a not so poor imitation of his own. He briefly wondered if she had been practicing her troll calls for reasons like this. Doing what he was told, Jim put his hands behind his back, gripping them tightly to keep himself from moving. Claire grinned up at him and made a purring sound in the back of her throat that he instinctually knew was meant as a sound of approval. His heart pounded frantically in his chest as he gazed down at her with wide eyes, panting in desire. "Remember: _no touching_."

And then her mouth and hands were working on him, and his eyes nearly crossed at the pleasurable sensations. His arms twitched, and he gripped his hands tighter together to keep himself from touching her, even though the desire to tangle his hands in her hair was nearly overwhelming.

"Cl-Claire..." Jim moaned with a shaky breath. He watched as she moved over him, guiltily enjoying the sight of her head moving back and forth in obscene motions, which was almost as pleasurable as the sensation of her hot, wet, sucking mouth. "Deya... s-stop, wait...!"

"Hmm?" she mumbled around him, and he nearly lost it at the vibrations her voice sent through him. Letting him go, she looked up and gave him a mischievous grin. "Don't you like your birthday present?"

He laughed breathlessly, giving her an apologetic look. "I do... but we probably shouldn't linger out here for long."

"James Lake, Jr., are you trying to have a quickie with me?" Claire said in mock outrage, leaning back on her knees, putting her hands on her hips, and giving him a playfully horrified look. "What kind of girl do you take me for?"

"Oh, you're absolutely right," Jim said, pretending to be chastised and ashamed. "What was I thinking? A fine lady like you deserves to be wined and dined."

They looked at each other seriously for all of two seconds, and then they broke down into childish giggles. Releasing his hands from each other, Jim let his arms relax, falling back down to his knees in front of his laughing mate. He waited until Claire leaned forward to embrace him before allowing his arms to encircle her, heeding her _no touch_ warning. They laughed harder, their mouths pressed together, when the baby gave a hard kick against their stomachs.

"See, Pumpkin?" Claire leaned back, releasing her arms from around him, patting her tummy as she spoke to it playfully. "Daddy thinks he doesn't have to give Mommy date nights anymore."

"Don't you listen to her," Jim said, grinning as he brought his hands to cover hers on her stomach. "Mommy completely owns Daddy and gets her way on everything."

Claire laughed again, turning her hands to grasp his. "Not everything."

"Almost everything," he replied, shaking his head in amusement. He pulled their joined hands to his face, pressing gentle kisses to her knuckles. "I promise, we'll have lots of date nights once we're settled in New Jersey... and back in our own time."

"I'm afraid by the time that comes around, we'll have a newborn taking up most of our attention," Claire said, her voice amused, but sad — only half joking.

Jim shook his head, squeezing her hands lightly. "We'll get there before she's born. _I promise_. I'm not going to let you give birth in the wilderness."

"She'll come when she comes," she laughed. "Not much we can do about it."

"You stay in there, young lady," Jim said in a playfully stern voice, bending to press a light kiss to his wife's belly. "No coming out until we're settled, you got that?"

Pumpkin kicked in response, and they broke out into more childish laughter.

. . .

Jim and Claire arrived back at the Lake residence well before dawn, expecting their human counterparts to be sleeping (and — in Younger Claire's case — at her own home). Normally, they would have spent the entire night tangled together, but the very real threat of Gumm-Gumms lurking about (not to mention Gunmar, Usurna, Angor Rot, or any other baddies roaming around) cut their night short. Still, they'd been gone for at least 4 hours, and that was apparently worrisome enough to Human Jim, Younger Claire, and Toby that they had been ready to set out on a search and rescue mission when Jim slipped back into his bedroom window, Claire slung in his arms.

"Where the heck have you _been_?!" Human Jim whisper-shouted, his eyes wild with fear.

"Dude, we thought for sure Gunmar had found you both," Toby said, relief flooding his voice and expression.

"Sorry," Jim laughed, a little guiltily, as he set his mate down on her feet. Happy, satiated, and exhausted, Claire wrapped the stolen blankets she had been carrying around herself and proceeded to climb into Human Jim's bed, snuggling herself into a comfortable position. Jim was sure that she was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. "We didn't think anyone would worry."

"What on earth were you doing?" Younger Claire asked, eyeing her older self in worry. "Is everything okay? Were you attacked?"

"No, no! Everything's fine," Jim said, his hand jumping up to rub awkwardly at his scruff. His face heated in slight embarrassment, but the others didn't seem to notice, too preoccupied with the perceived danger that they thought he and Claire must have encountered. "We, um... we just wanted to be alone for a bit."

"Alone?" Toby said, confusion clear in his expression. "We're in the middle of a war, and you want to be _alone_? Why the— _oooh_ , that kind of _alone_!"

"Why is it that you never manage to have any tact, Tobes?" Jim groaned in embarrassment, watching as his and Claire's younger selves turned bright red.

Toby shrugged, grinning. "It's just one of my many talents, I guess."

Jim rolled his eyes, running a hand through his hair and tugging on one of his horns anxiously. "Maybe you should consider ditching that particular talent."

"I'll consider it," Toby replied, and then he crossed his arms over his chest and glared Jim down. "But, seriously! Gumm-Gumms, Gunmar, Angor Rot, and who knows who else is out there... and you two sneak out to _have sex_?!"

"Oh, my god, Tobes!" Human Jim groaned, hiding his face behind his hands. " _Please_ shut up!"

"Hey, I'm just saying that your future selves need to get their priorities in order!" Toby argued.

"Shh!" Younger Claire hushed the two arguing boys, nodding her head toward her sleeping older self. Jim shifted his gaze back to his mate, watching as she moved slightly, seeming to react to the raised voices. The boys quieted, and a moment later, Claire was still again, her breathing becoming deeper. "Maybe we should take this conversation downstairs?"

Jim hesitated briefly. "How's mom?"

"She's fine... more or less," Human Jim assured him with a soft smile as they shuffled into the hall. "She just went to bed about 20 minutes ago; she was freaking out over your disappearance too."

Jim grimaced in guilt, closing the bedroom door quietly behind him. "Sorry; we... uh, we didn't mean to be gone that long."

"Oh, no, it's totally cool!" Toby exclaimed, his voice thick with sarcasm. Jim followed the others down the stairs and into the empty living room in silence, but he could feel his temper starting to get the better of him. "It's not like the world is an extremely dangerous place, filled with evil killer trolls and ancient sorceresses who would be more than happy to find future versions of their enemies and torture them for information."

"Tobes," Jim said, a growl rumbling in the back of his throat. Human Jim and Younger Claire were silent through the exchange, but clearly just out of embarrassment. "You are my best friend in any Timeline, and I love you to death, but I'm warning you right now... _drop it_."

Toby looked at him, clearly shocked at the unexpected anger in Jim's voice, but recovered quickly. " _Drop it_? Really, dude? You and Claire _disappear without a word_ , freaking everyone out, making us think you've been captured, tortured, and _killed_ , and all the while, you two are out in the woods, fu—"

" _Shut up_!"

Jim knew that Toby was speaking out from a place of fear — he _knew_ it — but that did nothing to stop his protective instincts from surfacing. In an instant, he'd grabbed Toby by the shirt, shaking him lightly. Human Jim and Younger Claire leapt forward to pull Jim back, but he'd already let go, darting across the room and into the kitchen, pacing back and forth in agitation.

"Jim...?" Younger Claire called out to him, and Jim looked up to see her, his own younger self, and Toby standing on the other side of the bar window, watching his agitation with concern, fear, and — in Toby's case — anger.

"Oh, well, _forgive me_ for being _worried_ about my best friends, then!" Toby said, his voice bordering on a shout. The others were trying to shush him, but Toby just glared at them too. "Stop! I'm mad at you two too! For... _future indiscretions_!"

"Okay, here's some advice for you, Tobes," Jim interrupted, forcing himself to stop pacing and trying to stem the growls emanating from his throat. Turning, he walked up to the bar, opposite the others, and leant forward, his face only an inch from Toby's angry glare. "If you and Darci ever decide to have kids, you're going to face a woman whose hormones are going absolutely crazy _because of you_ , and if you don't give her what she needs, when she needs it, you're going to be in for a world of hurt." Toby's expression was quickly melting from angry to shocked to abashed, but Jim was on a roll. "And if you happen to be under an extreme amount of stress because — oh, I don't know — you've been poisoned, almost killed, thrown through Time and Space, and _haven't been with your wife for three weeks_ , then _of course_ you're going to sneak off with her when she asks you to!" Jim leaned back, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. "So, yes, we snuck off to have sex; yes, we were aware of the danger; and, yes, I'm sorry we worried you... but we're not kids, and you're not our mother, Tobes."

Toby, looking properly abashed, rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, nodding slightly. "Okay... you're right. I'm sorry for... being a jerk."

Jim opened his mouth to respond, but his human self beat him to it, punching his best friend hard in the shoulder.

"Ow!" Tobes shouted, turning to glare at his best friend, rubbing his arm in pain. "What the heck was that for?!"

" _Future indiscretions_ ," Human Jim replied in a hard, mocking voice. Younger Claire was standing behind her boyfriend, also glaring down their pudgy friend.

Toby frowned, glancing away. "Okay, yeah... I deserved that."

Before Jim could say anything more, he heard shuffling from above them, coming from his bedroom. Rolling his eyes and sighing in defeat, Jim covered his face with his hand in frustration. "You woke Claire."

"Sorry... again," Toby replied, cringing as the noises from upstairs became loud enough for them to hear. "I... guess you guys haven't had a good nights' sleep in a while..."

"No, not rea—"

"JIM!"

Jim had already started moving as soon as he had felt the sudden spike of fear and panic shooting from Claire across their bond like a bullet. By the time she'd screeched out the 'm' sound in his name, he was on the landing at the top of the stairs, the others stumbling up behind him noisily. A heavy _bang!_ echoed through the second floor when his mother's bedroom door slammed open, bouncing against the wall. Barbara stumbled out of the room in her scrubs, looking like she'd been woken from a nightmare and then thrown right back into one in the waking world.

"What happened? Was that Claire? What—?" Barbara asked in a panic, her eyes and hair wild as she looked around the landing in confusion. A brief look of relief came over her expression when she saw Jim, but he wasn't paying enough attention to her to really take it in.

"Claire?!" Jim started, finding her scent coming from the bathroom. He was very tempted to rip the door off the hinges, but he didn't scent anyone other than his mate, so he knew she wasn't at the mercy of an enemy. Knocking instead, he called her name again, but she didn't answer, and he could feel her own panic quickly rising. "Claire, what the hell—"

Blood. He could smell blood; Claire's blood — a lot of it.

Jim twisted the door handle with force, and it practically crumbled in his grasp. He barely heard his mother make a slight noise of protest before he was pushing the now useless door open. He could feel the others right behind him, all worried and confused, but he didn't care who saw what as long as he could get to his distressed mate. The door flew open, and he stumbled into the tiny bathroom, his horns banging against the top of the door frame.

"Wha—?" Jim froze in horror at the sight that greeted him. Claire was seated on the toilet, hunched over and clutching her stomach in pain. The boxers that she had been wearing were tossed off in the middle of the floor, stained in bright, red blood. Drops and smears of blood were across the tile floor and the toilet. His heart pounding, Jim rushed to his mate's side, kneeling to pull her into his arms protectively when he noticed the streams of blood that were streaked down Claire's inner thighs and legs.

"Claire?!"

"Oh, god..."

"Holy Merlin, what is _happening_?!"

"Get some towels," Barbara commanded, Dr. Lake taking over the situation. Someone — probably Toby, Jim surmised, judging by the heavier footsteps — ran off into the hall to fulfill the request. Barbara was quickly at Claire's other side, taking her pulse with a slightly shaking hand. "Claire? Honey, when did this start?"

"I thought I just had to go," Claire gasped, tears streaming down her face. "I've... I've been... _stuck_..."

Jim would have rolled his eyes at his mate's attempts at being tactful had he not been half-crazed out of his mind in worry.

"Okay," Barbara said in a soothing voice, cupping Claire's cheek and brushing her thumb over the tear tracks. "Okay, constipation is normal in late pregnancy, honey. When did the pain and bleeding start?"

"J-just now," Claire replied, whimpering pitifully. She turned away from Barbara's touch and tucked her face into Jim's neck. She nuzzled him, but it wasn't affectionate; it was hard, almost desperate, and she was making distressed calls in the back of her throat.

Jim whined back automatically, trying to soothe her, completely uncaring of the others in the room who were eyeing their exchange in a combination of worry, distress, and confusion.

" _When_ , Claire?" Barbara demanded in a hard voice. "I need to know exactly how long you've been in pain."

"It didn't hurt bad," Claire explained, pressing closer to Jim. "But I started feeling pain about an hour ago."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Jim asked, his throat tight.

"I just thought I had a stomach ache," she cried, trying to pull her hand from Barbara's, but the older woman tightened her grip.

"Was it constant or coming and going?" Barbara asked. Toby ran back in with the towels, stopping short as Jim growled reflexively, trying to shield his mate's body with his own. Barbara took the towels from the boy, and he backed off quickly.

"Constant," Claire gasped, letting out a sob. "B-but it got worse."

"And the bleeding?"

"I don't know..." she said, squeezing Jim's hand tightly in her own. "I felt wetness when I woke up, but I just thought it was—" she broke off, shaking her head and pressed her face further into his neck.

"Claire?" Barbara prompted, gently pressing the towel between Claire's legs. "You thought it was what, honey?"

"Me," Jim said in a quiet voice, more worried about his mate than any embarrassment. "She thought it was from me."

Barbara's expression was the only thing that faltered, but she continued on professionally. "Okay... did you have any pain when you were together?"

Claire shook her head, her face pale. "N-no. None at all."

"Okay," Barbara sighed, checking the pulse at Claire's neck. After a moment, she frowned. "I need to examine you, Claire; I'm not quite sure what's happening, but this amount of blood is concerning."

'Concerning' was an extreme understatement, but Jim kept his mouth shut, knowing his mother was trying to keep the situation calm. Too bad she didn't know that he and Claire could feel and influence each other's emotions, though, because they were both anything, but calm.

"Mom...?" Jim heard his human self question in a terrified voice. He had almost forgotten that his and Claire's own past selves were seeing all of this and were likely just as scared.

"I just need to examine her," Barbara continued in a professional and soothing voice. She was answering her human son, but keeping eye contact with her future son, who was unconsciously making distressed noises in the back of his throat. "Honey, take her to my room, okay? Toby, take the rest of those towels and lay them out on my bed, so Claire can lie down." Barbara stood to her feet and Jim gently scooped Claire up in his arms, whining when she let out a cry of pain. "I'm going to grab my medical bag from the car, and I'll be right back. Take the rest of her clothes off and lay her down in my bed."

Jim nodded, his throat too tight to voice a response. Hot, sticky blood was soaking into his skin and clothes, and the sound of it dripping to the floor and spattering across the tile and his feet was enough to make him want to vomit. This wasn't really happening, was it? This was an Arachne venom induced nightmare; it had to be.

" _Jim_ ," Claire cried, tightening her arms around his neck. Her hands were cold and shaking, and it was startling enough to drag him back into reality.

Shaking his head slightly, Jim silently carried his mate out of the bathroom and into the hall. His human self, Claire's younger self, and Toby were already in Barbara's room, spreading towels across the bed. Human Jim and Toby immediately backed out of the room when Jim walked in with Claire, their eyes politely averted, though Jim was too worried about his mate and daughter to really care if anyone saw Claire half naked — at least not his own self and their best friend; he probably would have murdered Steve, regardless of the situation.

"Sh-sharp..." Claire moaned, her body twisting slightly as he laid her on the bed. Younger Claire rushed forward to help Jim remove his Claire's remaining clothing.

"Sharp?" Younger Claire asked, and Jim noticed that her own hands were trembling too. "The pain? It's a sharp pain?"

His mate nodded, squeezing her eyes shut tightly, a pained sob convulsing her body. At the same time, Barbara returned, medical bag in hand.

"All right, everyone out!" Barbara said, making shooing motions to Younger Claire and the two boys standing in the doorway. Jim was surprised when she turned and waved her hand at him too. " _Everyone_."

"No!" Claire shouted before Jim could respond, grabbing his hands in hers and holding tight. "Stay with me!"

"I'm not going anywhere," Jim promised his wife, but also speaking to his mother.

"Jim," Barbara began in a slightly impatient voice. "Honey, I have to give her a _pelvic exam_ ; you don't want to—"

"I'm not going anywhere," Jim repeated, his voice hard as he looked his mother in the eye with a determined expression.

Barbara sighed with defeat, rolling her eyes. Silently, she moved to the end of the bed, while Jim moved to sit at the head of the bed, pulling Claire into the cradle of his thighs, her head and shoulders resting against his chest and stomach. She held his hands tightly in her own, and he could feel the terror and worry that was coursing through her.

"All right, I'm going to begin, okay?" Barbara said to Claire as she pulled on a pair of purple nitrile gloves and spread the younger woman's legs. The blood spread across her thighs and legs was more than before, and Jim felt his stomach roll in fear. "This will be uncomfortable, but let me know immediately of you feel any unusually intense pain, okay?"

Claire whimpered, but nodded, closing her eyes and turning her head to press her ear against Jim's heart. It was pounding far too fast for her to find any comfort in, he knew, but he purposefully created a soothing purr to begin rumbling in his chest, and she relaxed against him, her eyes still squeezed shut. He tucked his face into her hair, nuzzling her lovingly; occasionally, he would murmur reassurances to her, but he reverted heavily into his trollish instincts with his fear and worry. Jim didn't care what his mother must have thought of the odd noises that he and Claire were exchanging, but he knew she was too absorbed in trying to figure out what was going on to really pass any kind of judgement on him.

A very tense 20 minutes later, Barbara leaned back, pulling her gloves off with a frustrated look. "Well, the bleeding has slowed a little, and there's no external trauma that I can see. Your mucus plug is still intact, and you haven't dilated at all; is the pain the same, worse, or better?"

"Same," Claire croaked in a hoarse voice.

"Okay, honey, I want you to try and rest for a few minutes," Barbara said in a mothering voice. Standing, she nodded to Jim, and then gestured to the door. "Jim, will you help me with something, please?"

"Y-yeah," Jim replied, his voice breaking. Claire gave him a terrified look, and he shook his head slightly, pressing his lips to her forehead. "I'll be right back."

She nodded and squeezed his hands in her own before letting him go. Silently, he slipped out from behind her, easing her down to rest fully on the bed. He pressed a kiss to her tear stained cheek, brushing her sweaty hair back from her forehead, and then he stood and followed his mother out of her room and into the crowded hall.

"What happened?!"

"Is she okay?!"

"Is the baby okay?!"

"Why—"

"Stop!" Barbara said in a firm voice, holding her hands up to stem the tide of panicked questions. Jim noted that his and Claire's younger selves were holding each other's hands tightly, their faces pale and terrified. Barbara waited until Jim had closed the door behind him to continue speaking in her 'Doctor Voice.' "I'm not sure what's happened; whatever trauma has occurred seems to be internal. I'll need to preform an ultrasound."

"She can't be admitted to the hospital," Jim said, trying desperately to keep himself calm, though he knew it was a moot point.

"She'll have to be," his mother replied in a no-nonsense tone. "I don't have access to a portable ultrasound, and if she ends up needing to be induced or has to have a cesarean—"

"It's not _that_ serious, is it?" Toby gasped, his eyes wide.

"It's too early," Jim protested, his heart pounding. He took a step back toward the bedroom door, the desire to get his mate away and somewhere safe nearly overwhelming him.

Logically, Jim knew that under his mother's professional care at the hospital was _the_ safest place that Claire could possibly be, but his instincts often overruled his logic. All he could think about was finding a cave or thicket or _anywhere_ he could build a birthing nest... which was a really weird thought to have, he realized, but he knew that this desire was coming from the purely troll part of himself. Trolls did not have communal birthing practices like humans did; unless a woman's mate was gone for some reason, he was the only one that assisted in the birth. Part of that practice was a simple desire for privacy, while the other part was that a male troll was absolutely _not_ going to let anyone else around his vulnerable mate and whelp; Jim had only witnessed such a transgression once before, just before Gunmar had taken over Trollmarket. He and Toby had wandered into Trollmarket one relatively normal afternoon, only to find that there had been an epic fight between two male trolls. Jim, of course, had immediately donned his armor and went into Trollhunter mode, but it had been too late for the unfortunate interloper, who already was nothing more than a pile of rubble. Blinky had explained the transgression that had been committed to them later, and both he and Toby had been horrified by the barbaric practice. Now, however, Jim realized that it was _not_ a practice at all, but an ingrained instinct that he knew — without a doubt — he would have an almost impossible time beating down.

"I can fudge the records a bit to disguise who she really is," Barbara went on in a reassuring voice, unaware of the thoughts and feelings rushing through her future son. "Her hair has grown, and she looks different enough to pass as a relative of Claire's... a slightly older cousin, maybe?"

"But what about me?" Human Jim said, gesturing to his future self. Jim could tell by the way his younger self was eyeing his fidgeting movements that the boy was aware of what was going through his mind. "There's no way that he's going to let her out of his sight right now."

"Oh, wait!" Younger Claire spoke up, her voice quiet and scared, but also excited. "We have the Glamour Mask! He can wear it and make himself look like a human."

"Who?" Toby snorted, rolling his eyes. "Coach Lawrence? It has to be someone you know — a _real_ person, not just someone made up."

"Yeah, but it can't be someone the rest of Arcadia knows," Human Jim argued. He looked back to Jim, who was now backed against the bedroom door, fighting with all of his might to stay still. "You don't happen to have any new human friends from the future that you can imitate, do you?"

"No..." Jim said through a slightly whined growl. Suddenly, an image popped into his mind's eye, and he had to swallow against the anger it caused to boil in his stomach. "...I might know someone who could work, though."

"I'll go get the mask, then!" Younger Claire said in an excited voice, and she darted off down the stairs and into the basement before anyone can say anything further.

"I can't..." Jim began, growling and clenching his eyes shut, his hands fisting tightly behind his back. "I need to..."

"Jim, honey, the hospital is the best place for her right now," Barbara said in a soothing voice, and Jim felt his mother place a gentle hand on his shoulder. He tried not to flinch away from the touch, reminding himself that this woman had no knowledge of troll customs and instincts and couldn't possibly know about the fight going on inside of him. "She'll be safe there, and if something happens, that's where the baby will have the best chance."

Jim snarled, jerking back from her touch as gently as he could, and he opened his eyes to see the slightly scared look on his mother's face.

"It's okay, Dr. L," Toby said, stepping forward to pat his best friend's mother on the arm. "Jim's just trying to protect his mate."

"Mate?" Barbara questioned, looking between the three of them in confusion.

"Trolls take mates, Mom," Human Jim explained in a soft, placating voice. "They're really protective, especially when the female is whelping. I'm — I mean, _he_ is reacting on instinct; asking to put Claire in a very public place when she's most vulnerable goes against every instinct I'll have."

Barbara nodded, though it was obvious from her expression that she was still a little confused and more than overwhelmed with what she had just been told. All the while, Jim fought against the urge to fall into his instincts; he knew that, if he so much as _considered_ giving in, he would have Claire in his arms and out of the window before anyone could think to stop him.

"I've got it!"

The tense silence broken, they looked up and around to see Younger Claire running up the stairs, two at a time, the Glamour Mask gripped tightly in her hands. Without pausing, she went right up to Jim and handed him the mask, which he took with shaking hands.

"What do I do?" He asked in a hoarse voice, a slight growl still reverberating in his chest.

"Just picture who you want to be, and then put the mask on," Younger Claire explained, stepping back to stand beside her boyfriend. "Picture everything about them, even down to the sound of their voice and what clothes they're wearing."

"And remember," Toby added in a warning tone. "The mask just doesn't make you look different to other people, it actually transforms you into an exact copy of that person, so you'll actually _be_ human, at least physically. So, even though you'll feel the mask on you, you'll also still have a face, and you'll be able to see and talk and everything."

"I was wondering about that," Human Jim muttered, looking over the mask in his future self's hands curiously. "I didn't know how it worked with no mouth or eye holes."

"It's a really weird sensation," Younger Claire said with a light blush. "Especially if you try to imitate a person of the opposite sex... which is why Toby and I switched off who was playing you when you were in the Darklands."

"You tried to be me?" Jim asked, slightly distracted by his wife's past self's admission.

Her blush deepened, and she nodded, glancing away from both Jims. "I, uh... didn't realize the extent of how the mask transforms its wearer."

"All her parts shifted, and she lost her balance," Toby snickered, and the girl in question shot her friend an annoyed glare. "She couldn't even walk straight."

"Oh," Human Jim snorted in laughter, looking away from his girlfriend's glare.

Jim was only half listening as he stared down at the wooden mask in his mismatched hands, concentrating hard on the person he was going to imitate. Honestly, he was the last person in the world that he _wanted_ to imitate, but he was a perfect fit. Jim could remember how he looked the last time he had seen him, when the man had still been young, so he wouldn't look too drastically different in age to Claire; no one in Arcadia would recognize him without an in-depth investigation (which was extremely unlikely to happen); and, thanks to his recent and unwanted phone calls, Jim knew the cadence of the man's voice. Taking a steadying breath, he lifted the mask and pressed it to his face.

Claire was right — it was an extremely weird sensation. For a moment, there was nothing but darkness, and then a flash of green light surrounded them and Jim could see again. He could feel and smell ( _why_ on earth did it smell so _bad_?) the mask on his face, but it was like the object had melded to his flesh like a scab; it was firmly attached, but he could pull it off. His face itched, and for a moment, he thought it was the mask, but when he lifted his hands — two _human_ hands! — to touch his face, he realized that it was a short, scruffy, black beard. Jim looked up, and his now green eyes caught the sight of his reflection in the mirror across the hall, his father's face staring back at him, looking exactly as he had the day he had left.

Barbara made a startled squeaking sound in the back of her throat, and Jim tore his gaze away from the mirror to look at his mother's pale face. "I'm sorry; he was the only person I could think of."

Both Jims and Barbara cringed at the sound of James' voice forming Jim's words, but Barbara was quick to recover, shaking her head slightly and taking a deep breath to steady her nerves. "No, he... he's a good choice. No one will know him."

Unable to stand being stuck in his father's form when it wasn't immediately necessary, Jim reached up and pried the mask from his face. Another flash of green light brightened the area briefly, and then Jim was back in his normal — well, _troll_ normal — form.

"Don't forget that you aren't _really_ human," Toby added in a cautious voice, wisely deciding not to comment on Jim's choice of person to imitate. "So, try to keep the troll calls to a minimum in front of other humans."

"That might be hard," Jim admitted, an anxious whine rising in his chest as if to protest the command. "I can't help it."

"Claire will have to refrain from doing the same," Barbara said, her voice thoughtful. "I noticed that you two communicate that way a lot."

"We've been living with the trolls for a while," he replied, shrugging apologetically. "She's picked up my habits and theirs."

"That's okay," Younger Claire said with a fond smile. "Just try to rein it in front of everyone, but us."

Jim nodded, taking in a shaky breath to try and calm his nerves. "Okay."

"I'm going to get the car started," Barbara said, placing a gentle hand on Jim's forearm. "Wrap a sheet around Claire and bring her down, okay? The sooner we can figure out what's going on, the better."

Jim nodded, his heart nearly flying from his chest. He saw Toby pull his retracted Warhammer from his back pocket, tapping it against his leg as he followed Barbara down the stairs. "I'll go with you, Dr. L."

"Claire and I will meet you there on my Vespa," Human Jim said, automatically catching his girlfriend's hand in his. "We have to let Blinky and Merlin know what's going on. We'll be there as soon as we can."

Jim nodded again, turning away from his and Claire's past selves as they rushed down the stairs. Steeling himself, he opened the bedroom door again, his throat tightening in emotion as he saw Claire, now curled on her side and hugging her stomach in pain. The towels beneath her were soaked in blood, and tears trailed continuously down her face.

"Hey," Jim choked out, kneeling by the side of the bed and brushing Claire's sweaty hair back off of her face. "We're going to the hospital, babe."

Claire shook her head frantically, gasping in pain and fear. "N-no, we can't—"

"Shh..." Jim soothed, pressing his lips to her forehead in a lingering kiss. "We don't know what's wrong; you need an ultrasound."

"C-can you hear her heartbeat?" She sobbed in response, reaching for his hand and squeezing tightly.

Jim nodded, tilting his head to lightly press his ear to his mate's swollen belly. He could hear the fast-paced beating of his child's heart, the sound quick, but slightly weakened. His own heart lurched at the realization that their baby was in real danger.

"It's weak," Jim told Claire, leaning back and starting to wrap the towels and sheets around his mate's body. When she was covered, he lifted her easily in his arms and carried her into the hall and down the stairs.

Claire whimpered, pressing her face into his chest, trying to quiet her sobs. Jim couldn't say anything to comfort her, his throat too tight, and his fear too great to even manage to comfort himself.

 _To be continued..._

╬ _REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!_ ╬


	17. Chapter Seventeen

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

_I felt guilty for making you all wait so much longer for the last chapter, so I double timed this one for you. Enjoy, my loves!_

 **Chapter Seventeen**

Jim held himself together rather well, he thought. He'd managed not to growl, whine, or make any type of inhuman noise since they'd entered the hospital; he hadn't killed the male nurse who had taken his mate from his temporarily human arms, though his trollish instincts were clamoring for the guy's blood; he'd refrained from tearing off immediately after his mate when she had been taken into triage, while he stayed behind to fill out bogus paperwork that his mother would later 'misplace'; he even handled it fairly well when another nurse — female, this time, thank Deya — started an IV and a blood transfusion for Claire and she had cried out in pain, only cracking the metal side rail on the gurney, rather than the innocent nurse's neck.

"Not to add to anyone's panic, or anything, but shouldn't they have taken her to ultrasound by now?" Toby said, pacing around the room that Claire had been placed in.

Jim was watching his best friend anxiously from one of the extra chairs that had been provided, holding his mate's hand in his own (well, sort of — having a human shaped and colored hand again was way weirder than he would have previously imagined). Human Jim and Younger Claire had arrived 20 minutes before and were sitting on the floor in the corner of the room, their hands held tightly together. Claire herself was asleep, some kind of pain reliever having been administered to her after she had gone through another external examination, and it was determined that the bleeding had stopped, though they still didn't know the cause. They'd been waiting for at least 2 hours, and the fact that dawn was quickly approaching, and Claire's room had an eastward facing window, was only making Jim's anxiety worse.

 _Not safe, not safe, not safe..._

Jim huffed impatiently, shaking his head in an attempt to expel the instinct-based thoughts that were racing through his brain.

"Mom's trying to get a machine," Human Jim replied, his own frustration grinding in his voice. "It's probably taking her some time to waylay the ultrasound tech."

"At least the bleeding has stopped," Younger Claire said in a soothing voice. "And she looks a lot better; the color is coming back into her face."

Jim nodded, gazing at his sleeping mate in slight relief. She _did_ look a lot better, her skin was warm again, and she was sleeping comfortably on her side, though she was hooked up to various machines. One machine was tracking the baby's heartbeat, not that Jim needed it to hear and feel his daughter's life force. The heartbeat was still quick and slightly stronger, but the blood loss had affected her enough that she was not bouncing back as quickly as everyone would have preferred; however, from what little he could feel of her soul, Jim could tell that it was still strong, despite her physically weakened state. They just needed to figure out what had happened and prevent it from happening again. Simple. Problem fixed.

Except, Toby was right — this was taking forever, and the more Jim stewed in his anxiety, the stronger the desire was to scoop Claire up and run.

"You're growling," Younger Claire warned gently from across the room, and Jim swallowed hard against the growl he hadn't realized that he was producing. In an attempt at distraction, she continued, "So... I don't know whether I should ask, based on certain reactions, but who are you imitating?"

An awkward silence echoed in the room for a moment, until Jim managed to force out a bitter response. "My father."

"Oh," she gasped in reply, a guilty look spreading across her face. "I'm sor—"

"It's fine," Human Jim answered instead, leaning over to give his girlfriend a chaste kiss. "I don't care about him, and he _is_ a good choice, as far as disguises go. That's... that's how he looked, the day he left."

A soft knock at the door saved Younger Claire from responding, but she still looked guilty for bringing the subject up. Jim smiled fondly at her for a moment, hoping his expression came off as forgiving, though he didn't really blame the girl for anything. Even _his_ Claire didn't know what his father looked like, and had only realized who he was supposed to be when he spoke, recognizing his voice from the one time she had spoken to the man.

"Come in," Jim called out, the gruffness in his voice hopefully passing as nerves and not the edge of the growl that it really was. The mask on his face smelled so strongly of "sweaty troll stank," as Toby put it, that he had an impossible time distinguishing scents unless they were directly in front of him, which only added one more thing to have an anxiety attack over.

"Mrs. Jones?" A young, brunette nurse popped her head in, her voice quiet.

"She's here," Jim replied, cringing a little at the fake name. "She's asleep."

The nurse nodded and entered the room on silent feet, pulling a small machine on wheels with a monitor at the top in behind her, closing the door just as quietly once she had entered. Jim noted that the girl's scrubs were not solid green, like his mother's, but white and decorated with teddy bears and yellow, baby footprints. A name tag that was decorated in cute, but worn stickers of flowers and hearts revealed her name to be _Lily_.

"I'm afraid I'll have to wake her up," Lily said with an apologetic smile. "Dr. Lake requested an ultrasound."

"Two _hours_ ago," Toby groused, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at the woman.

The poor girl cringed, looking to the floor guiltily. "I'm so sorry it took so long; there was an emergency c-section for triplets, and it was all hands on deck."

"It's fine," Jim said, though it really _wasn't_ 'fine.' It was hardly the nurse's fault, though, and he could understand that — with Claire's condition now, at least, stable — an emergency birth of triplets (Deya's grace, he couldn't imagine how stressful _three_ babies would be at once, if he was this freaked out over one) might take precedence. "She's been doing okay."

"That's good," Lily smiled, taking a moment to briefly look over the monitors that were tracking Claire's and Pumpkin's vitals, nodding at this and taking a note of that. Overall, she seemed satisfied with what she saw. "Looks like she's ready for another bag of oh neg, but that can wait a bit." Plugging in her machine, the nurse turned back toward Claire and gently rubbed her arm. "Mrs. Jones? I'm sorry, hon, but I need you to wake up and turn on your back."

"Cl— Maria," Jim called, trying not to stumble over calling his mate a different name. It helped that _Maria_ was her real middle name, but that didn't mean Jim used it at all. Gently, he squeezed her hand in his, standing from his chair to lean over Claire, brushing the hair from her face. "Mi amor, they're ready to do the ultrasound."

"Hmm?" Claire mumbled groggily, blinking her eyes open. For a moment, she looked startled as she caught sight of his face, but her fright soothed almost as quickly as it came as she remembered the situation. "What...?"

"Mrs. Jones, my name is Lily," the nurse said, catching Claire's attention. The girl smiled gently as Claire looked up at her, blinking the sleepiness from her eyes. "I'm here to do an ultrasound, okay? Baby isn't in any distress right now, but we still need to see if we can figure out where your bleeding came from."

"Okay," Claire replied, nervous relief in her voice. Jim helped his wife shift onto her back, cringing as she grimaced in discomfort. "I feel like she's going to be 20 pounds when she's born."

Everyone chuckled, relieved at Claire's good humor. Lily adjusted the bed to allow Claire to sit up a little, taking the weight off of her back. "You'll be surprised how much of that is just water weight; Baby will probably only be between 6 and 8 pounds, judging by your size now." The nurse looked around at the others in the room, and then back to Jim and Claire. "Are our guests staying for the show?"

"They can, if they want to," Claire replied with a soft smile toward their younger selves, and Jim chuckled at the excited looks on their faces.

If it had been anyone else, Jim would have protested left, right, and center (it was already setting off his protective instincts that he had to allow someone he didn't know — however nice and professional she seemed to be — to touch his mate), but all he did was nod his consent. The others looked away politely as Jim and the nurse helped Claire shift her gown and blanket out of the way to expose her stomach, Lily taking the fetal monitor and some of the electrodes off. When her bottom half was covered again, her gown covering her breasts, the others were given permission to look again, and they rushed forward excitedly, standing at Jim's side. Lily was on the other side of the bed, laughing softly at the kids' excitement.

"Oh!" Claire exclaimed, flinching and giggling as Lily squirted the jelly-like lotion across her belly. "Cold!"

Lily chuckled and smiled apologetically as she flipped a switch on the monitor and a grainy black and white background appeared. "Yeah, I'm sorry. It has a shelf life of 5 years unopened, but only 28 days once it's been opened; warming it causes the gel to degrade a little faster than that." Taking the Doppler wand in her hand, the nurse pressed the head of it against Claire's stomach, sliding it around to spread the gel. Pressing slightly harder, she moved the wand toward Claire's popped out belly button, and then paused, taping a button on the keyboard. "There's Baby! A little girl, just like you thought."

Jim's heart pounded fiercely in his chest as he stared in wonder at the monitor. The image was grainy and distorted, but the silhouette of what was clearly a very small baby was visible. True, Jim knew what his daughter _would_ look like, thanks to his unintentional trip into the Void, but that was an image of her as an older child; a child that had been hardened by the responsibilities of being the Trollhunter since birth. The little being on the screen would not be subject to that fate, and so — to Jim — it was like seeing her for the very first time, so small and innocent that all he wanted to do was hold her and protect her from all of the wrongs in the world.

Had his own father felt this way in the beginning? The guy had been decent at one point; Jim firmly believed that James _had_ loved his family, at least once. He wasn't sure what had happened to change that so suddenly (it couldn't possibly have been the result of just one good-looking woman), and he wasn't much interested in learning the details, but the fact that James might have once felt this way too was both a fascinating and terrible thought. Jim, however, loved his little family far too fiercely to ever let them go; besides, what other woman in the world could compare to the brave, amazing, strong, and resilient sorceress that he was married and mated to?

"Interesting..." Lily murmured quietly, breaking Jim out of his thoughts. He distantly realized that Claire's hand was trembling in his, a combination of worry and excitement. The nurse moved the wand around some more and pressed a few more buttons on the keyboard, and the monitor zoomed in on the baby's head and shoulders.

"She's sucking her thumb," Human Jim said in a thick voice, laughing slightly. Jim laughed breathlessly as he saw the same thing, Pumpkin's little lips mouthing the fist that she had pressed to her face.

"Babies do that, even in the womb," Lily said in a fond voice, though Jim noted with worry that she seemed slightly distracted by something. "It's a good sign that they'll take to suckling well, should the mother choose to breastfeed."

"I am," Claire said, almost breathlessly as she also stared at the screen in wonder, seeming not to notice the nurse's concern. "It will be easier not to worry about bottles and stuff."

Because a part troll baby might just _break_ said bottle, Jim thought, biting back a laugh. Trolls breastfed too, but their bodies were stronger and made of stone, so the infants learned quickly that to eat meant to latch on _hard_ , because what they were eating from was also hard. Claire was lucky in that respect, in that her body was soft, so Pumpkin would not learn to be rough, like a troll baby would.

"What's wrong?" Toby asked, frowning as he also noted Lily's distraction.

"Not _wrong_ ," Lily replied in a thoughtful voice. "Just... see here and here?" She pointed to two spots on the screen that aligned with the top of Pumpkin's head. "There seems to be a thickening of the bone structure in these two spots... but the brain looks perfectly normal, as does the rest of the skeletal and organ features, from what I can see." She turned to look at Jim and Claire. "Do either of you have a family history of bone defects?"

"I do," Jim interjected quickly, squeezing Claire's hand reassuringly as she began to panic again. He purposefully ran his hand through his hair, allowing it to linger on the top of his head for a moment, giving his mate a meaningful look. She relaxed immediately as she realized what he was trying to tell her. "It's just a genetic quirk she got from me, I guess. I have it too."

"And no problems resulted from it?" Lily asked, though she already seemed much more relaxed to know that the baby's horns (not that she could _know_ that they were horns, the growths were so subtle) were not unexpected.

"None," Jim confirmed, giving the nurse a reassuring smile.

Lily nodded, relaxing more, and turned back to the monitor, the image shifting as she moved the wand around Claire's belly and pressed buttons on the keyboard. After a few minutes, she paused the wand again and took several images of the same spot from different angles.

"Is she okay?" Claire asked, biting her lip anxiously.

"The doctor needs to review the images," Lily replied in an apologetic, but tense voice. "Dr. Lake won't take too long, I'm sure; she was very anxious to have your results."

"That tone isn't reassuring," Younger Claire pointed out in a tight voice, her breath short in worry.

Lily smiled again, her expression tense as she looked to Claire after glancing at the younger girl. "I'm sorry; I can't give specific details until a doctor reviews the images. Baby is doing well now, though, and Mom is stable. I'll get these images to Dr. Lake pronto, and I'll start another bag of oh neg for you, okay, Mrs. Jones?"

"Thank you," Claire replied in an understanding voice as the nurse quickly cleaned up the gel and her equipment. A minute later, she was wheeling the machine from the room, advising Claire to try and rest some more. When the door closed behind the woman, Claire rolled her eyes. "Like I can actually rest now."

"Try to, anyway," Jim said, chuckling a little as he brushed her hair back from her face. Her white streak slipped out from its hiding place, and he tucked it back, quickly stealing one of Younger Claire's clips from her hair.

"Hey!" She laughed, grabbing her head in the place where the clip used to be. "You could just ask."

"May I steal one of your hair clips to give to yourself?" Jim responded, his voice slightly sarcastic as he obliged the girl's playful complaint. She laughed and stuck her tongue out at him.

"So... question!" Toby said, his voice excited, and his stance relaxed. "You're not seriously going to name the kid _Pumpkin_ , are you? Troll or not, that's just cruel."

"Hey, don't make fun of my baby," Claire replied in a pouting voice, glaring playfully at the boy. "She's _my_ little pumpkin."

"We haven't really thought of names," Jim realized, giving Claire an amused look. "She's just been... Pumpkin. It fit before we knew whether she was a boy or girl."

"Okay, but now you know for sure," Toby went on in an insistent voice. His best friends rolled their eyes. "And it's cute and all, but I need to be able to properly introduce my niece to the world. Like, 'hey, everyone, this is my little niece, Sable Petunia Lake!'"

"You make fun of a nickname like Pumpkin, but you come up with _Sable Petunia_?" Jim replied incredulously, giving the boy a playfully surprised look.

"It's an _example_ ," Toby's said, rolling his eyes dramatically. "How about _Jamie_?"

"No," Jim, Claire, and their younger counterparts all said at the same time.

Toby snorted a laugh. "You called your flour baby 'Jimmy Lake Jr. Jr.!'"

"Yeah, our _flour baby_ ," Jim laughed, shaking his head. "I don't want to name any of my _real_ kids after myself. You have to come up with nicknames to avoid confusion, which defeats the purpose of giving the kid a real name, in the first place."

"Jenny?" Toby tried again.

"No."

"Josephine?"

"Is she a character in an old Western?"

"Jill?"

"God, no."

"Jacquelyn?"

"Stop with the J names, already!"

"Penny?" Younger Claire interjected, her lips pressed together to hold in a laugh. Her older self laughed and shook her head.

"Henrietta?" Human Jim added, jumping into what was quickly becoming a game. Jim shook his head, but smiled, relieved to have a distraction.

"Georgia?"

"Annie?"

"Charlotte?"

"Jean?"

"That's a J name, Tobes."

"Gene with a G, then."

"That would be a boy's name."

"Gloria?"

"Ava?"

"Bernice?"

"Joan?"

"J name, Toby..."

"Ah, c'mon!"

"Renee?"

"Barbie!"

"You know that's just a shortened form of _Barbara_ , right?"

"Duh, that's why I suggested it. Plus, you know, _Barbie_!"

"I'm not naming my daughter after a doll that sets unrealistic beauty standards for children."

"You're no fun, Claire."

"Oh, oh, I know! _Juliet_!"

"Maybe as a middle name."

"Ha! At least that's a 'maybe'!"

"Viola?"

"Cordelia?"

"Gertrude!"

"Now, you're just going on a Shakespeare run."

"Ooh, wait, I know one! _Titania_! It's Shakespearean _and_ Trollish!"

"It's a variation of one of the Fey languages, actually."

"Oh, shut up! When did you become such a whiz in Trollish, anyway? You're horrible at languages!"

"When you live with trolls 24/7, you tend to learn what they're saying real quick."

"Rose?"

"Jessica?"

"Tobes..."

"Right, right... No J names..."

"Michelle?"

"Destiny?"

"Hope?"

"Megan?"

"Brooklyn!"

"She's not a suburb of New York."

"Mackenzie!"

"Amber?"

"Rachel?"

"Eleanor?"

Jim chuckled, relaxed in the little game they were playing, so he was more than a little startled when Claire gasped and grabbed his hand in both of hers, squeezing tightly.

"What? _What_?" Jim asked frantically, looking his mate up and down to see what was wrong. She was feeling excited, though, not sad or upset or any negative emotion that he could interpret as anything wrong. "Claire? Honey, what—"

"Eleanor!" Claire exclaimed, her eyes wide and her expression bright. Instead of resting, she seemed to be wide awake now, practically vibrating in happiness. "Ooh, we could call her Ellie! Oh, Jim, I really like that name!"

"What?" Human Jim laughed, his expression surprised. "I said that name as a jo—oof!" Younger Claire had elbowed her boyfriend in the stomach, glaring him down fiercely. "I mean... I was just trying to make you laugh."

Jim shook his head, biting his lip in amusement. He _did_ like the name, but he understood why his younger self might be surprised that Claire would like something so old fashioned like that. 'Petunia' had been a joke, but generally speaking, Claire was more of an exotic name chooser. He'd half expected that she would prefer a Slavic name, which seemed to be the origins of most of the troll names they'd encountered.

"Eleanor Lake..." Claire sounded out loud, and he couldn't help the thrill that went through him — and her — at the smooth cadence of the name. "Ooh, it's so pretty... Jim, _please_?!"

Jim laughed incredulously. "Why are you asking my _permission_? She's yours too, and you're the one who has to go through all the pain and everything for her to be here. I did the easy part; I made a deposit at the bank six months ago, and that's about the extent of my input."

Claire gave him a flat look, crossing her arms over her chest, ignoring Toby, Human Jim, and her own younger self, who were practically falling over with laughter. "Yeah, and who held my hair back every time I puked? Who has to put up with my mood swings, and weird cravings, and having to stop so I can pee every fifteen minutes, and having to carry me around half the time, because I can't see my feet and I lose my balance? And who has to help me get dressed and put my shoes on, and do all the really embarrassing personal hygiene things for me, because I just can't move my body that way anymore?"

Jim shrugged, smirking. "That's still the easy part. And I love you, so I don't care about doing any of that stuff for you. And shaving your legs is hardly embarrassing."

"It is when I have monkey hair," Claire pouted, glancing away to glare at Toby who was still laughing to the point of tears.

"You don't have monkey hair," Jim replied, rolling his eyes. "You're beautiful, even if you never shave your legs again."

"See?" Younger Claire murmured conspiratorially to her boyfriend. "That's how it's done; you're taking notes, right?"

Human Jim snickered, grinning in love sick fondness at his girlfriend, and Jim chuckled as he watched them. The moment was interrupted as another knock sounded at the door, Barbara stepping in before anyone could call for her to enter. She had a chart in her hands that she was going over as she walked in, and Lily trailed in behind her, a new bag of blood in hand.

"I've got your oh neg for you, Mrs. Jones," Lily said, smiling sweetly as she switched the empty bag for the full one. "This one should top you off, I think. You're already looking so much better!"

"Thank you," Claire sighed, smiling back at the nurse. "I feel better."

"No pain?"

"Just sore," Claire admitted, nodding slightly. "Not like before at all."

"Good," Barbara interjected with a relieved smile. "Lily, would you mind getting Maria some ginger ale and ice chips? I think we can safely start you on some liquids and soft foods again."

"Of course, Dr. Lake," Lily replied, giving Claire's arm an affectionate pat. A moment later, she was shutting the door quietly behind her as she went off in search of the requested items.

"What happened?" Jim demanded immediately, his anxiety and worry hitting him full force again. _Do not drag mate away from hospital, do not drag mate away from hospital, do not drag mate away from hospital..._ "What did the ultrasound show? The nurse looked concerned, and she wouldn't—"

"Lily was following procedure, Jim," Barbara said in a calm voice, placing her hand on his shoulder and squeezing lightly. He could tell by the way that she couldn't quite stand to look at him for more than a few seconds at a time that she was still uncomfortable having to see and hear the face and voice of her ex husband. Releasing him and turning to Claire, she continued, "Claire, this fight Jim was in that left him poisoned... were you involved in that too? Were you hurt in any way?"

"No..." Claire replied, looking between Jim and Barbara in confusion. Jim shrugged, just as confused by the question. "Jim refused to let me go with him, so I wasn't there."

"So, you weren't in any kind of fight recently?"

"No, not at all," Claire said, her hand tightening around Jim's as her anxiety rose.

Barbara sighed and glanced between the two of them, her expression apologetic and a little embarrassed. "Okay... I'm sorry about the personal nature of this question, but... how _rough_ are you when you're... _together_?"

"Mom!" Jim exclaimed, his face burning in embarrassment. So much for not wanting details.

"Ugh, I thought we all agreed to not talk about that stuff?" Human Jim moaned in mortification, he and Younger Claire hiding their blushing faces in each other's necks. Toby was laughing again, and Jim resisted the urge to growl at the boy.

"Not... I mean," Claire blushed, stumbling over her words. She stared down at her belly in hard concentration as she forced herself to answer the doctor's question. "It's... not exactly _rough_. Jim's _never_ hurt me, but... well, we can be a little... wild."

"Have you ever had cuts or bruises develop?" Barbara asked, her own face red, though her tone remained professional.

"No!" Jim and Claire both exclaimed at the same time, shocked at the assumption. Jim growled a little, unable to suppress the protective instinct that was rising in him at the unsaid accusation. "I would _never_ —"

"Not intentionally, I know," Barbara interrupted, holding up a placating hand. "But is there any chance at all that Claire could have been hurt _unintentionally_ during those times?"

"No!" Claire insisted, glaring at Barbara in unchecked fury. "He's _always_ careful, even when I don't want him to be! Even when he bites me, he never does it hard enough to even bruise!"

"Bites...?" Barbara said, her eyes wide, and then she closed her eyes and brought her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Never mind. The point is, the bleeding was caused by a slight tear of the placenta from the uterine wall; this can only have been caused by a hard injury, like a hit or a fall from a great height."

"What?" Jim gasped, his body tensing with the urge to grab his mate and flee. The only thing keeping him from doing so was the shock of such a diagnoses. "But if the placenta is torn—"

"It was a _slight_ tear," Barbara assured him, opening her eyes and relaxing her stance to try and calm the tense atmosphere. "With the transfusion and the bedrest, it's already healing itself remarkably well. Almost _too_ remarkably, which I suspect is due to both the troll DNA and the magic you both carry. In any other case, you would have hemorrhaged and miscarried before we even got to the hospital."

Jim's heart pounded fiercely at the revelation. "But she's not been in any fight, or... or hurt..."

"But you were in a fight with Usurna, weren't you?" Toby asked, his expression thoughtful. "That's how you got sent back in Time, right?"

"I was thrown across the room," Claire said in a breathless voice, looking up at Jim in shock. "Koenraad scooped me up like a doll and tossed me into a wall."

"And you didn't think _that_ would count as being hurt?" Human Jim exclaimed incredulously, his tone just as panicked as Jim felt.

"It didn't hurt," Claire replied, her stunned gaze shifting down to stare at hers and Jim's rings. "The magic protected me... I thought..."

"Maybe it did," Barbara said, watching the two of them carefully. She seemed to garner that the rings were the source of some kind of protective magic, and Jim nodded slightly at the questioning look she shot him. "How hard did you hit the wall?"

"I thought he'd killed her," Jim choked out, his pulse echoing in his ears. "I couldn't catch her..."

Claire frowned, tightening her grip on his hands, but nodded. "I hit really hard, but... I didn't feel any pain. It was like the magic absorbed the impact."

"Lean up," Barbara instructed, setting her chart down and stepping forward to grasp Claire's free hand in hers. Her other hand in Jim's, they helped her lean forward a little, and Barbara pulled the gown aside in the back, exposing her back. Gently running her fingers down her back, Barbara poked and prodded in certain places until she got to a spot just above the swell of her right hip.

"Ow!" Claire exclaimed, jerking away from the touch, though Jim had seen how lightly his mother had been poking. To his astonishment, a yellowish splotch seemed to seep up out of her skin now that the area had been irritated, looking like a halfway healed bruise. The yellow turned blue and purple along the edges, which slowly crept across nearly the entire expanse of Claire's back until it looked like she had been beaten across the back with a plank of wood.

"Jesus, baby..." Jim breathed out in shock, catching his mother's eye across the bed and noting her own shocked and horrified expression. Toby and his and Claire's younger selves were not so subtly peeking around to look at what the fuss was about, and their own faces paled at what they saw.

"How on earth didn't you notice that when you were out in the woods, getting frisky?!" Toby asked in a stunned and incredulous tone.

Jim was in too much shock to muster up the energy to be pissed off at his best friend, his eyes still glued to the mottled bruise expanding across his mate's back and shoulders. "I didn't touch her back... it's easier on her right now to be the one moving..."

"What is it?!" Claire demanded, trying to twist around to catch a glimpse of her back. The movement caused her to flinch in pain, her breath coming short.

"I think that the magic _did_ protect you, Claire," Barbara finally said, allowing the girl to lie back again. "It sounds like that amount of force would have shattered your spine, but I think the magic absorbed most of the impact, like you suggested; however, I don't think it could take all of it, and that remaining force was just enough to cause some deep tissue bruising and the placental tear. The pressure I applied seemed to release the blood from the tissue, allowing the bruise to become visible; it's quite expansive."

" _Expansive_?!" Toby repeated incredulously, and — of course — lacking any tact. "She looks like a domestic assault victim!"

"What?!" Claire yelped, trying to sit up and look over her shoulder again, her expression reflecting the fear that Jim could feel welling up in her.

"It's okay," Barbara said in a soothing voice, giving Toby a brief, but hard glare. The boy shrugged, grimacing apologetically. "You're healing well; this is just some bruising. A lot of bruising, but it could have been much worse."

"So, I can leave then?" Claire asked, relaxing a little.

Barbara smiled sadly. "No, I would feel better if you stayed under medical supervision, at least until tonight."

"But it's almost sunrise!" Claire protested, and Jim felt her panic rising again as she looked between the window and him.

"So...?" Barbara asked in confusion, raising an eyebrow in an expression that suggested that she thought Claire might have lost her mind.

Claire shook her head, almost frantically, and let go of Jim's hands and pushed him away. "You go home."

"I'm not going anywhere," Jim said for the third time that night, glaring down his mate, daring her to argue.

In Classic Claire fashion she took up the challenge. "I don't want you to get hurt because of me!"

"We're inside; I'll be fine," he replied, rolling his eyes and catching her hand in his again. "We'll throw a blanket over the window."

"Wait, wait, wait..." Toby interjected, holding up his hands in his 'stop everything' gesture. "Are you saying that Jim's, like... _that_ much troll? Like, you're gonna turn to _stone_ in the sun?"

"Sort of," Jim confirmed, grimacing at the remembrance of his most recent 'sunburns.' "For me, it's more like getting splashed with acid; the sun eats away at my skin, but it heals immediately when I'm in the shade again."

"That doesn't mean you should risk it!" Claire exclaimed, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth, though she didn't push him away again. "Besides, you haven't slept in _days_ , and it's bedtime. You should go home and sleep."

"You think I'll be able to sleep at all with my mate and whelp halfway across town?" Jim asked incredulously, an unconscious whine building in the back of his throat at the thought of leaving her here. "With all these people that I don't know touching you, and leaving their scent on you, and your scent is already all weird because of the blood transfusions — which is from a male, by the way, so I'm not too happy about that, and—"

"You're going feral, dude," Human Jim said, chuckling a little.

Jim huffed, shaking his head, wishing he could take the stupid mask off so he could ram his horns into something. "I'm staying."

Claire sighed, rolling her eyes and slumping back in defeat. "You're so stubborn."

"I'm a troll, babe," Jim laughed, squeezing her hand lightly. "It's part of the job."

" _We_ should probably go, though," Younger Claire said, smiling in relief at the easing atmosphere. "Merlin was making headway on converting the potion, but he's going to need some help getting the ingredients."

Human Jim snorted and looked to his older self with a slightly hopeful look. "You wouldn't happen to know where we could get a... a... what did he say it was?"

"I think you said that he said a Hol... Hul... Holder Fork horn shaving?" Toby said, his expression thoughtful as he stumbled over the words. Jim and Claire burst out in incredulous laughter. "What?"

"Huldufólk?" Jim asked, still chuckling.

"Yeah, that's it!" Younger Claire exclaimed, her expression excited. "Do you know where we could find that?"

"Yeah," he said, figuratively dying at the pure irony of the situation. Glancing at his mother, who had remained in confused silence the whole time, Jim went on, "Do you have a scalpel?"

"I..." Barbara began, blinking in concern before turning toward the sink counter and opening one of the drawers. She pulled out a sterile scalpel still in its packaging and handed it to him. "Why...?"

Jim took the package from his mother and released his mate's hand, walking toward the bathroom. Glancing back at the confused looks he was getting, he shrugged and gestured for someone to follow him. "Someone's going to have to cut them for me — and try not to make me look lopsided, please."

"Wait, _you're_ a Holder Fork?" Toby replied in shock, looking Jim's human guise up and down as if he could see through it to his troll form.

" _Huldufólk_ ," Jim corrected with another laugh. "Yes, although males of the species are called _Huldrekall_."

"If you had put that much effort into Spanish, you might have passed," Younger Claire chuckled, opting to be the one to follow him into the bathroom.

"I prefer Trollish," Jim replied in a joking voice. Once he and the girl were in the large bathroom, he closed the door behind them and pulled off the Glamour Mask. A flash of green light later, and he was back in his normal form, sighing in relief. He handed her the scalpel and moved to sit cross legged on the floor. "Make me look good, mi amor."

"That's not difficult," she replied, giving him a brief hug from behind. "I think you're even more handsome as a troll."

Jim laughed softly, watching her reflection in the mirror as she stood behind him and tore open the plastic wrapping in the scalpel. "You might be a little biased."

"Maybe," she shrugged with a smile. "But that doesn't mean that it's not true." Silently, Younger Claire began scraping at his right horn with the scalpel, cutting off thin slices of keratin along the grain. "Looks like future me will have to re nibble these bad boys."

Jim laughed again, watching as she switched to the left horn and proceeded to shave off the same amount of keratin to make the two look even. "I'm more than happy to let you nibble on them whenever you want."

"Are you sure it doesn't hurt?" she asked in a soft voice as she gently shaved away the top layers to reveal white, new growth below.

"Nah, it's fine," Jim assured her, lightly patting her foot with his left hand. "They probably needed to be cut back a bit, anyway. They've grown at least an inch or two since I became a troll, and I haven't messed with them."

"They grow?" Younger Claire gasped, surprised. Her hand faltered and slipped, the scalpel clattering to the floor as she dropped it to clutch her bleeding thumb. "Ow!"

"Klutz," Jim admonished, turning to face her and grabbing her hand in his.

It was a clean slice across the pad of her thumb, deep and welling up with crimson blood. Instinctually, he brought the wound to his mouth and licked the blood up gently, cleaning the cut. _His_ Claire was used to his trollish habits and would have taken this in stride, but her younger self was so unfamiliar with trollish natures in general, that she was clearly startled by the action. She froze, her heart racing, the scents of fear and arousal wafting from her in an odd mixture that made his own body react. He only had time to meet the girl's heated gaze with his own before he was cringing back, _his_ Claire sending feelings of amusement, arousal, and slight jealousy along their bond.

"S-sorry," Jim mumbled, his face heating in embarrassment as he let her hand drop from his. Swallowing hard against the taste of her blood still lingering on his tongue and the resulting desire coursing through him, he looked to the floor as he cleared his throat, and said, "Y-you should, um... you should get those shavings back to Merlin. The sooner we get back to our Time, the sooner you'll defeat Gunmar, Angor, and Morgana. We can't let anything change that."

"...Jim?"

"Just... I'll just be a minute," Jim said, standing and turning away from the young girl. "Not too keen on putting that disgusting mask back on just yet. I need a minute to catch my breath."

There was silence for a few seconds, and then he nearly jumped in surprise when he felt Younger Claire throw her arms around his waist, hugging herself briefly to his back. She let go almost as quickly, and then she was gone, the bathroom door closing softly behind her. Jim stayed in the bathroom, staring down his own reflection in the mirror, trying to quell the heat rising in his veins, not that his mate was helping as she mischievously kept pushing her own desire to him through the bond.

"Everyone's gone!" Claire's voice called after a few minutes, and Jim reluctantly donned the mask again, assuming his human disguise, and peeked his head out of the bathroom. A thick blanket had been thrown over the window, blocking the morning sunlight from entering the room, the only light now coming from a tube of soft, yellow light on the wall above the head of the bed. Claire was sitting up, her gown and blankest covering her body again, with her hands rubbing her swollen belly gently. "Come over here, you."

Jim grinned, shaking his head in amusement, but obliged his mate's request, quickly darting to her side. He paused for a moment to make sure they were truly alone, and then he closed his eyes in concentration. There was another flash of green light, and when he opened his eyes again, Claire was staring at him in surprise.

"Jim..." she sighed, lifting her hand to caress his cheek, now the spitting image of the human boy she had fallen in love with.

"Thought maybe you might like to see human me when I'm _your_ Jim," Jim shrugged, glancing away shyly. He lifted a shaking hand — _his_ hand, all five fingers intact — to hold her own against his face.

"You're my Jim, no matter what you look like," Claire replied in a sweet and loving voice, her expression fond. "I have to admit, I miss the horns, though."

Jim laughed, relief flood through him. True, he had accepted his choice and all of the changes that had resulted from it long ago, but that wasn't to say that there weren't times where he missed being human. Sometimes, he just wanted to be Jim, the Human, who could go to Walmart with his wife, rather than Jim, the Troll, who had to stay behind, lurking in the shadows like a wild animal. Claire, however, clearly didn't see any difference; to her, he was just Jim, Claire's Husband and Mate.

"They look a bit different," Jim warned playfully, leaning forward to catch her lips in his own. No matter what she said, if he had to pretend to be a human, kissing _his own_ human form was preferable. He had downright refused to kiss her at all wearing his father's face. "You'll have to decorate them again."

"Oh, I look forward to that," Claire laughed, kissing him back enthusiastically. After only a few seconds, she jerked back, gasping in pain.

"What?" Jim asked, panicked. He leaned back, looking over his mate frantically. "What happened? Your back?"

"No," she replied, grimacing. She looked down at her stomach, kneading gently at a spot on her lower left side. "She's just letting me know that she's feeling better too."

Jim relaxed, covering her hand with his and leaning over her again to press his lips to her stomach. "Miss Ellie, you might be feeling better, but Mommy is still hurting, so you should settle down for the day, hm? It's bedtime."

"Really?!" Claire squealed excitedly, wincing as the baby kicked out again, startled. Ignoring the pain, she grabbed Jim by the ear and dragged his head up to hers, smashing their lips together in a deep kiss. "Really? You like the name? _Really_?"

Jim laughed against her lips, brushing his tongue against her mouth and chin. "Yes, really; but you _could_ name her Pumpkin, and I wouldn't care. I love her with any name."

"Oh, well, in that case," Claire said, grinning mischievously. "I actually preferred _Sable Petunia_ —"

"Any name, _except_ that one."

Claire laughed again, smiling at him fondly, and pulled him in for another kiss.

 _To be continued..._

 **╬ _REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!_ ╬**


	18. Chapter Eighteen

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

 **‡** _I'm back from the beach, my loves! I wish I could live there, but alas! Real life calls upon us all... enjoy the following chapter!_

 **Chapter Eighteen**

"I can't sleep."

"Try to, anyway."

"I miss our nest. I miss the smell of our blankets."

"Sweaty and unwashed for months?"

" _No_ , you dingus. They smell like us... like home."

Jim smiled fondly, shaking his head in amusement. The hours had passed slowly, and it was nearing late afternoon. Despite receiving another, milder dose of pain medication, Claire was too uncomfortable to actually sleep, and Jim was too on guard to allow himself to do the same. He couldn't let himself forget the fact that a life or death battle was just around the corner, and — though he knew the outcome would result in their victory — numerous enemies could pop up at any moment. Every unexpected noise had him jumping, ready to protect his vulnerable mate at a moment's notice.

"Lay down with me," Claire requested, attempting to scoot her body over to give him room.

"Like this?" he chuckled, gesturing to his human disguise, his father's personage now adorning him. With the nurses coming in every hour or so, he couldn't afford to look like his own human form; too many people would recognize the son of Dr. Lake.

"I don't care what you look like," she insisted, patting the space she had created invitingly.

"I care," Jim said, but he obliged her request, anyway, sliding his slightly taller body into the small bed along hers. Resting on his side, he loosely hugged his arm across her belly, rubbing it gently. " _Sleep_."

Claire closed her eyes, resting her head against his shoulder, and silence followed for several minutes as she tried to sleep against him.

"...I still can't sleep."

"Want to talk about it?"

"My inability to sleep, despite having not really slept in three days?" she asked in a sarcastic tone, opening her eyes to gaze up at him. "Besides, I slept for a couple of hours this morning."

"Honey, two hours of sleep isn't going to make up for three days of _no_ sleep, on top of severe blood loss," Jim said, leaning forward to kiss her forehead gently. "What are you anxious about?"

"I'm not—"

"Claire," he interrupted in a patient voice, leaning back and lifting his hand to brush her hair back from her face. "I _look_ different, but I can still feel your soul."

"I know..." Claire sighed, biting her lip in slight guilt. "I guess... I miss everyone... Blinky, and Dagny, and little Nyrys, and Glug, and even Bagdwella!" At this, she gave a watery laugh, tears beginning to slide down her cheeks. "And I miss our blankets, and our nest, and I _don't want to relive all of this_!"

Jim felt the genuine fear welling up in her, and he quickly responded, pulling her lightly into his chest. "Shh... we'll be back there soon, and then we'll be in New Jersey, and we'll find the Heartstone, and _I promise_ , I will build you the most amazing home and nest any troll has ever seen. You'll be the envy of every female in the pack."

Claire laughed, reaching up to roughly wipe her tears away, sniffling. "I've seen the way some of those females look at you _and_ at me; I think I already have their envy, because I have you."

Jim scrunched his nose up in distaste. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Claire smiled, pleased with the honest confusion he was feeling. "Mm... well, let's put it this way: I'm pretty sure those females are just waiting for me to die of old age, so that they can have you."

"Yeah, right..." Jim rolled his eyes, grinning. "If that's true, then they don't know sorcerers and sorceresses are practically immortal. You would think the presence of Merlin and Morgana would have cemented that fact."

"They'll have quite the long wait, then," Claire chuckled, caressing his beard lightly with her fingertips. "I'm not a fan of the facial hair."

"Me neither," Jim admitted, tilting his head to kiss her fingers. "But I can't remember him without the beard, so..."

"You miss him... don't you?" She asked after a minute of silence, her voice and feelings both conflicted.

Jim sighed, closing his eyes against the hot sensation building behind them. "I miss the man that he was. The man that he is now is just some random asshole who happens to share some of my DNA."

"Well, he's a jerk," Claire agreed with a playful smile. "But I'm glad he exists." She poked him lightly in the chest. "I got you from him."

"Yeah, you might have ended up with Steve," Jim snickered, catching her hand in his and squeezing gently.

"Ugh, I'd never be _that_ desperate," she responded, scrunching her nose up in disgust.

"I don't know," he laughed, giving her sly look. "You _did_ go to the Papa Skulls concert with him, just because he had the last tickets."

Claire glared at him, genuinely mad at the reminder. "Excuse you, it was Papa Skull! I'd have gone with _Strickler_ , if he had the last tickets. And you and Enrique tore my house up, so we're calling it even."

"I suppose," Jim said, holding her hand to his chest. "It all worked out."

Claire shook her head slightly, a thoughtful expression on her face. "You know... it's been just a little over a year."

"What has?" He asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.

She laughed, snuggling herself into his chest. "How long we've been together."

Jim hummed, thinking. "No... we started dating in April... when I got back from the Darklands."

Claire rolled her eyes, laughing quietly. "Officially; but we've really been unofficially together since the play — and that was a year ago. It was our first kiss."

He grinned, squeezing her hand gently again. " _Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! / For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night._ "

"Smooth, Romeo," she laughed, pressing her lips to his clothed chest. Jim felt her starting to relax more, her eyes drifting closed. " _My bounty is as boundless as the sea, / My love as deep. The more I give to thee, / The more I have, for both are infinite._ "

"I love you..." Jim sighed, allowing himself to relax as well. He really _was_ just as exhausted as Claire was. As a half-troll, he could go longer without sleep than a human, but he still needed at least 4 to 6 hours of sleep a day. Unlike his mate, who had caught a few minutes of sleep here and there in the last day, Jim had not slept at all in almost 4 days, and it was starting to take its toll on him. He briefly wondered if the Glamour Mask's magic would deactivate, if he fell asleep.

"Mm..." Claire mumbled, finally being pulled under. "Love you too..."

Jim held his wife close, snuggling into her as much as he could with her belly in the way. He was sure they must have looked like a pretzel to anyone who might see them. Their legs and arms were all tangled together, her head tucked under his chin, their breathing in sync. The sound and movement was soothing and calm, and before he knew it, Jim was nodding off, sleep taking him only moments after it had claimed Claire.

. . .

"Jim! Jim, you have to wake up! _Jim_!"

"Huh? Wha...?" Jim mumbled, blinking back the grogginess weighing him down. He was met with the sight of Claire, still asleep against his chest, but he could have sworn that she—

"Jim!"

Jim startled at the harsh, whispering voice of his mate coming from behind him, a hand shaking his shoulder. Looking around quickly, he relaxed slightly as he saw Claire's younger self standing by the bedside, her Shadow Staff clutched tightly in her fists.

"Claire? What are you...?" He trailed off in shock as he got a good look at her face. Careful not to wake _his_ Claire, he disentangled himself from her and slipped out of the bed. Grabbing Younger Claire by the arm, he gently pulled her across the room, toward the window, noting briefly that night had fallen beyond the coverage of the blanket. Keeping his voice low, he demanded, "What the hell happened?!"

Younger Claire's lip was split and bleeding, and as he looked her over from head to toe, he was shocked to see tears in her clothing, mild cuts here and there across the exposed flesh. She was trembling slightly as she clung to her staff as if it were her last hold on reality.

"Where are the others?" Jim asked in a gentler voice, grasping her shoulders gently in his hands.

"We... we went after an ingredient that Merlin needed..." she mumbled in response, her eyes wide, and her heart pounding. "He said it was supposed to be easy..."

"What was it?" he said, furrowing his brow in concern and confusion.

"He said he needed a dragon's eggshell," Younger Claire said, and Jim couldn't help but now notice that some of her clothing and a little of her hair seemed to be singed.

Glancing around quickly, Jim pulled her back across the room and into the bathroom, ripping the mask off before the door had even fully closed. It fell to the floor with a dull clatter as it dropped from his numb fingers, his unobstructed nose now catching the scent of burnt flesh. Eyes following the scent, and with the added help of the ceiling light, his heart lurched in fright at the sight of her hands: raw, red, and blistered.

"A _dragon_?!" Jim gasped incredulously, quickly pulling the staff from her hands and placing it down on the closed toilet lid. She cringed and gasped with the movement of her hands, and he apologized quietly while pulling her by the shoulders toward the sink. He turned the water on so that it ran lukewarm, and then urged her to let the water run over her hands. "That fucking wizard... sending you after a _dragon_... he _never_ thinks of the danger he puts others in..."

Claire remained silent, clearly a little startled by his language and also in a fair bit of pain. After a minute, she seemed to gather herself together, continuing to explain, "He told us where we might be able to find dragon remains... he thought that they'd died out, so we could get what we needed and back in no time."

"But they haven't died out, have they?"

"Definitely not," she replied, cringing as he found the scalpel from earlier — still lying on the floor, under the sink — and used it to nick the largest blisters on her hands, draining the infection. "And Mama Dragon was _not_ happy to find three humans popping up out of nowhere. Toby was knocked out... you told me to come get... well, _you_... while he stayed behind to fight the dragon."

"Am I _crazy_?!" Jim gasped, nearly breaking the scalpel in his hand. "I can't take on a _dragon_ as a _human_."

"Yeah, he knew that, I think," she replied, her voice shaky as she watched their hands moving together under the flow of the water. "But we still need the shell pieces, and he was hoping that he could at least hold the dragon off until you could...?"

"Where are Blinky and AAARRRGGHH!?" he asked, absently grabbing a paper towel and wetting it down. He brought the wet cloth to her lip, gently pressing it to the cut.

"We decided that it would be faster to split up," Claire explained, her voice slightly muffled and distorted as she tried to speak around his pressing fingers. "They went for Mermaids' tears."

"Mermaids?" Jim repeated in a flat and incredulous voice. "Like... fish women?"

" _Naked_ fish women whose songs lure human men to their deaths," she corrected with a hard glare. "I wasn't going to take you and Toby into a harem of death!"

Jim couldn't help but snort a laugh at the undercurrent of jealousy in her voice. Leaning back from her slightly, he continued, "All right... make a portal to the boys, and I'll go get the—"

"You're not going without me!"

"Deya's grace, why do you have to be so stubborn?" Jim sighed, rolling his eyes.

"You need me to get back," she said in a firm voice, and he couldn't ignore her logic, but he had other priorities at the moment too.

"And I can't leave _you_ ," Jim gestured to the bathroom door where his mate lay sleeping in the room beyond, "alone and unprotected while Gunmar and his goon squad are _literally_ right under our feet."

"...I don't know if I can maintain a portal that long..." Claire worried, biting her lip, and then wincing as the split in her lip began bleeding again.

"You don't have to," he assured her, pressing the wet paper towel back to her lip to stem the fresh bleeding. "Make the portal, let me go through, and then close it. Give me an hour, and then open another portal to let us back. If we don't come through within 5 minutes, close it and _don't open another_."

"But what if you—"

"Jim has his phone, right?" he asked, shaking his head in amusement immediately after. "What am I saying? Of course I have my phone; I was sixteen."

"You act like it was ten years ago," Claire chuckled, lifting one of her hands from the sink to take the towel from him.

"It feels like that, sometimes," Jim admitted, sighing again. Standing to his full height, he grabbed up the Shadow Staff again, and held it out to her. "Don't leave her side, you got that? And get my mom to look at your hands."

"Jim..."

"Don't worry," he replied with a reassuring grin. "I'm not going to jeopardize my own future by letting myself get killed by a dragon; _either_ of my selves."

She smiled, shaking her head slightly, and took the staff from him with her less damaged left hand. "Don't make a pit stop at the Mermaids."

"If I remember my monster lessons correctly," Jim said with a smirk, watching as she silently and effortlessly summoned a shadow portal within the shower stall. "A Mermaid's song only affects souls who haven't found their other half yet."

And with a chuckle at the embarrassed grin she was giving him, Jim leapt into the portal. The blackness engulfed him, and he tumbled through the thick atmosphere. When he came to a floating stop, it took him a minute to orient himself and get his head to stop spinning. He heard dull, echoing shouts and a loud roar coming from his right, and he spun around, spotting the light of the exiting portal in the far distance. Flinging himself in that direction, he hurtled through the space, dodging astroids and Claire's rogue couch.

"—here, you son of a bitch!"

"You got 'im, Jimbo!"

"Toby, keep down!"

"I can help!"

"You have a concuss— look out!"

Jim dodged to the left just in time to avoid a fire ball that nearly obliterated the space where he had tumbled from the shadow portal. He backed away, staring in shock at the gigantic winged lizard looming before him with an extremely angry expression on her face. He idly wondered how something that massive could even manage to get off the ground to fly in the first place. Taking in his surroundings, he realized that they were in a giant cavern that would have been pitch black, if it hadn't been for the wide mouth of the cave that opened up to reveal a dark sky, a full moon hanging ominously in the center.

"Took you long enough!"

He turned at the voice, finding his younger — slightly fried looking — self, running toward him as best as he could while dragging a dazed looking Toby behind him.

"Hey, Troll Jimbo!" Toby laughed, waving enthusiastically, as if they weren't facing down a killer, fire breathing, mythological creature, and meeting each other for coffee instead. "Can you believe this guy? _Someone_ woke up on the wrong side of the bed!"

Jim gasped, grabbing the boys and leapt back 20 feet to avoid another fireball. " _She_ thinks you're trying to hurt her hatchlings."

"Oh, what?" Human Jim laughed, sarcastic and slightly hysterical. "Do I speak _dragon_ now?!"

"Of course not," Jim replied, rolling his eyes and dragging the boys behind a boulder. "But you wander into any mother's nest, and she's going to react to the perceived threat and protect her young."

"We only want an eggshell!" Human Jim exclaimed in exasperation. Jim noted that his younger self was in his _full_ armor, helmet included, though the face plate was retracted. He almost laughed when he realized that the decorative horns on the helmet almost perfectly matched the horns he'd grown as a troll.

" _She_ doesn't know that!" he replied, gesturing in the general direction of the roaring dragon. Taking a moment to don his own armor, Jim continued, "Just stay here and keep an eye on Tobes."

Without waiting for a reply, he flung himself out from behind the boulder, waving his arms in the air and snarling at the dragon to catch her attention. Automatically, her head turned in his direction, spotting him. To his surprise, she seemed to falter for a moment when she saw him, her wings rustling in agitation. Jim tried to recall what he knew of dragons, but he couldn't remember much, other than useless facts from his favorite movie; so, unless a Night Fury and a one-legged Viking showed up, he would just have to wing it. Were dragons intelligent? Most mythological creatures tended to be so, he knew from experience, and she did seem to recognize a troll.

"Can you speak?" Jim called out to the dragon, easing his posture into a slightly submissive stance. He took it as a good sign that she hadn't attacked yet, though smoke was curling menacingly from her nostrils.

"Are you _nuts_?" he heard his younger self say in panic, and Jim shushed the boy with a quick growl in his direction. The dragon startled at the noise, and he tensed, ready to summon Daylight at a moment's notice.

Instead, the dragon lowered herself to her belly, lying on the ground and folded her wings back. She brought her head right up to Jim, her nose pressing into him, snuffling him and taking in his scent. His heart pounded, but he forced himself to stay still and tilt his head back a bit to expose his throat.

" _You are lost_."

Jim jumped at the voice, not just because it was unexpected, but because it was echoing around in his head. Distantly, he heard his younger self and Toby gasp and yelp in shock as they heard the voice in their heads too. The dragon had pulled back only slightly enough that she could look at him with both eyes, but she was still close enough to gobble him up, if she wanted to.

" _You are out of place_."

The dragon had not moved, simply staring at him, smoke continuing to billow from her nostrils. No sound had come from her, other than the low rumble of her breathing, but she was the only other being who could have been speaking.

"I know we shouldn't be trampling through your nest," Jim said, remaining in his submissive stance, but looking the gigantic lizard in the eyes. "I'm so sorry, but we didn't mean any harm. We only came to ask—"

" _They did not ask_."

Jim cringed slightly. "Yeah... In their defense, I don't think they realized that they _could_ ask."

" _You are lost_ ," the voice repeated after a moment, the dragon obviously deciding that she would rather deal with him than the two fumbling humans who were easing out of their hiding place.

"No, no," Jim assured her, holding a hand out to her, but stopping just short of touching her. "We know where we a—"

" _No_ ," the dragon interrupted, huffing out a breath that caused a puff of black smoke to rush from her snout. She leant her head forward to meet his hand, allowing his touch. "You _are lost._ You _are out of place_."

"...sort of," Jim admitted, not quite sure if she meant what he thought she meant, and — if she did — how she could have known.

" _Time distorts around you_ ," the dragon said, pulling her head back from his touch and cocking it curiously to the side. " _Too many magics mixed together ripped Time apart_."

"How did you know that?" Human Jim asked as he and Toby braved stepping closer. The dragon glared at them in annoyance, but didn't attack.

" _My kind are prophetic_ ," she explained patiently. " _As such, we can sense Time and all it may affect_."

"That must be why Merlin wants the eggshell!" Toby exclaimed, pounding a fist into his opposite palm, and then wobbled dizzily.

Human Jim caught his friend before the boy could fall, and Jim finally took in Toby's appearance, noting the black eye and the bleeding cut across his forehead. "Then shouldn't you already _know_ why we're here and that we didn't mean any harm?!"

The dragon rolled her eyes at Human Jim, giving an annoyed huff. " _Insolent boy. 'Prophecy' does not mean seeing every aspect of the future — we See key events; events that change fates._ You," she pressed her snout lightly to Human Jim, a rumbling laugh puffing through her nose when the boy stumbled back at the strength of her push. " _You will face a choice soon. You see one result before you, but the choice still remains._ "

"You mean..." Human Jim hesitated, glancing nervously at Jim. "You mean... becoming a troll?"

" _Yes_ ," her voice echoed softly, blinking her eyes slowly, disarmingly... like she was seeing something that they could not. " _The choice remains. Time replays that moment, over and over... both choices have been made before... and the choice remains to be made again_."

"No offense, Dragon Lady," Toby slurred, and Jim looked to the boy, more than a little startled and worried at the way his pupils were blown. "But that makes no sense."

" _Mm..._ " the dragon sighed, eyeing the boy with a look that Jim thought might be concern. " _Time is circular. Events happen that are fixed, unchangeable; then, there are events that are hinged, that will allow Time to diverge along two paths. Your choice decides the path, but your choice changes with each circulation_."

"So... there's a Timeline where I choose to stay... human?" Jim asked in a hesitant voice, not sure how to feel about that knowledge. The dragon merely nodded her huge head, staring him down with an intense gaze.

"I defeat Gunmar as a troll... but what about as a human? Is there a way to still win as a human?" Human Jim asked, looking between Jim and the dragon cautiously. Jim couldn't ignore the optimistic hope in the boy's voice, but he remained silent.

" _Much hangs on your choice_ ," the dragon said, laying her head down on her paws, like a giant, fire breathing puppy. " _You will defeat him still as a human..._ " Jim couldn't breathe; he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Had his sacrifice been worthless? He would have defeated Gunmar as a human too? Had he given up his humanity, home cooked meals, days in the sun for... nothing? If he would have won anyway? The dragon continued, her voice softer, " _...but at great cost; many lives will come to an end that would have lived on. Your own life will end soon after. As a troll, you will live many centuries_."

"So... I defeat Gunmar, but it costs me my life," Human Jim surmised in a shaky voice. "But by becoming a troll, I'm giving up my life as a human, anyway... so, in a way, a part of me is dying in either situation...

" _You assume your end will be a result of battle_."

They all looked at the dragon in surprise, and Jim frowned at her darkly amused tone. "Well, that's how I always thought I would go, troll _or_ human..."

" _As a human,_ " the dragon spoke, closing her eyes somberly. Jim was surprised when he noticed a glistening wetness escape one of her eyes. " _Your life will end by your own hand_."

" _What_?!" both Jims gasped in shock, looking toward each other and then back to the dragon, their mouths hanging open in nearly identical looks of horror.

" _Many lives will end_ ," the dragon repeated. " _You will lose those who mean the most to you... a mother, a teacher, a friend, a lover... all gone; all lost in blood and death_." She opened her eyes again; instead of the black that they had been, they were now swirling with gray clouds. " _You will choose to follow them in death_."

"Then it's not a choice at all," Human Jim said, his voice determined. "Obviously, becoming a troll is the way better option here."

" _Both choices have their difficulties_ ," the dragon replied, her voice taking on an ethereal tone. " _As a troll, you must come to realize that the lives that have been saved will eventually end of their own accord, while you live on. You bear it with a stronger countenance as a troll, but these losses will still pain you; some, more than others._ "

"What do you...?" Jim trailed off, breathless with heartache at the thought of his loved ones dying at all.

" _Mortals age, Trollhunter_ ," she said in a gentle voice, leaning forward to snuffle him again. " _Time will bring the death of us all eventually, but mortals are especially short lived._ "

Jim nodded, his panic easing a little. "Like... my mom... and Toby?"

The dragon nodded again. " _Indeed... you will face much along your chosen path._ "

"What about Claire?" Human Jim interjected, and Jim could practically hear the boy's heart thundering through his breastplate. "She uses magic, so that makes her long lived too, right?"

" _Indeed_ ," the dragon repeated, her lips curling up to show off rows of sharp, surprisingly white, teeth. Jim got the impression that she was trying to smile, though the look reminded him of the 'smiles' the velociraptors from the _Jurassic Park_ movies wore right before they ripped someone to shreds. " _Your lover will maintain the centuries with you... but the lives of warriors are never easy_."

"Sounds better than dying, though!" Toby laughed, wobbling on his feet. His expression turned green and then he turned and started hurling.

" _I'm afraid I may have damaged your friend_ ," the dragon said in an apologetic voice, her tail swinging behind her like it was giving itself up as the weapon of choice.

Jim flinched at the horrible retching sounds coming from his best friend, watching as his human counterpart patted the boy's back in an awkward attempt at comfort. "Yeah... we should get him home. I'm afraid his head was hit pretty hard."

" _Ah..._ " the dragon sighed, tilting her head down in a slightly shameful expression. " _Yes. I thought he was trying to take my hatchlings._ "

"That's understandable," Jim laughed, though he noted that it was a little weird that she was the only dragon present. Even if dragons didn't keep mates (which he was fairly sure that they _did_ ), he thought he would have seen the hatchlings in question wandering around. "I promise, they're perfectly safe. We never meant any ha—"

" _You cannot harm them_ ," she interrupted, a strange keening sound rising from her chest, and Jim's heart lurched at the sadness in her tone. " _I cannot See all, least of which my own future. I must accept loss, as well_."

"Your whole clutch?" Jim choked out, both astonished and saddened by the realization that this mother dragon was putting all of her sadness and anger into defending the remains of her dead babies.

She stood again, her wings unfurling to hang limply by her sides, and she shuffled herself to the side, revealing the nest-like structure behind her, at the mouth of the cave. Looking up to the dragon with a questioning look, she nodded slightly, silently giving him permission to move forward. As he stepped closer to the nest, he tried not to cringe back at the stench rising up from it, a combination of ash and soot, rotten egg, and an oddly familiar acidic scent that he couldn't quite place. The large nest was built of boulders and now cold embers of coal, which 5 huge eggs were nestled in the middle of; or, rather, the remains of the eggs, as they had been cracked open and crushed, dried yolk, blood, and a sticky green substance spattered across the interior of the nest. 3 of the eggs seemed to have been completely ripped apart, the occupants gone, while the other 2 eggs were slightly more whole, the decaying corpses of smaller versions of the mother dragon hanging limply from their protective casings.

"Oh, Deya..." Jim choked out, unable to help but cover his nose with the back of his arm, both to cover the horrified look on his face and to block his nose from the scent of death. He heard the boys come up behind him, gasping at the sight, and Toby puked again.

"What could have done this?" Human Jim breathed, his voice thick. "Gumm-Gumms?"

" _Not trolls_ ," the dragon said, curling herself around the nest and lying down, her head gently nuzzling one of the limp babies. " _Creatures I have never seen before. They overwhelmed me_."

"Where is your mate?" Jim asked, resting his ungloved hand on her curled tail and rubbing it comfortingly.

She keened softly again, her cloudy eyes closing. When she opened them again, they were black once more, but filled with tears, which spilled over en masse. " _Food has been scarce... the humans encroach over nature, limiting the places our kind can hide and hunt. We align with the vows made by your kind — we wish only to avoid the humans; we have no desire to harm them. Long since have been the times when humans were tasty snacks_." She chuckled darkly, smoke puffing from her nose. " _But we still need to eat. Ejder left to seek us a new home, but he has yet to return. It has been too long; I fear that he has been lost to me, such as our babies_."

Jim swallowed against the anguished whine wanting to rip itself from his chest, and closed his eyes for a moment, trying to gather himself. "Mother... can you tell me what these creatures looked like?"

She smiled at the name he gave her, her flesh warming gently, almost affectionately. Sighing, she laid her head down on her paws again, closing her eyes. " _I have never seen nor heard of such creatures as these — and I have lived many centuries. They were... strange... strange and dark. They looked very much like the little creatures that scurry along the cavern walls and eat the other little creatures... but not. They were very big, and were... human-like... from the belly up._ " The dragon shifted her tail slightly, exposing a raw patch near his hand, the flesh black, green, and red. " _Their touch and bites were like liquid fire... I will never forget the screams that my babies emitted as they were eaten alive by those foul creatures. I thought..._ " her voice trailed off, tight and choked. " _I thought I had saved at least these two... but the creatures' venom or poison ate straight through their softened flesh, stopping their weak hearts_."

"Spiders...?" Jim wondered aloud, gently inspecting the dragon's wound. With a horrible jolt, he realized why the acidic smell had seemed so familiar. "Mother, when you say they look like the little creatures here... do you mean the ones with the many legs? The ones that spin webs to catch their prey?"

" _Indeed_ ," she replied, opening her eyes to gaze at him curiously. " _Do you know these creatures, Trollhunter_?"

Jim nodded, taking a shaky breath, and tilted his head back to expose the slight scar on his neck. The Elven magic had healed his wound and cured his infection, but it had still scarred. "I think what you're describing are creatures called 'Arachne.'"

Lifting the tip of her tail, she gently brushed it against his neck, leaning forward to examine the scar carefully. " _I have never heard of such a creature. What horror birthed them_?"

"They're creatures from the Shadow Realm," he explained, anxiety creeping up on him. If the Arachne had been around _before_ the release of Morgana, they were quite possibly dealing with a much bigger issue in the future. Was it possible that something _worse_ than Morgana was trying to take hold in the Living World? The fact that they had swarmed and overwhelmed a _dragon_ was extremely unsettling.

The dragon's hackles rose, her wings rustling in agitation. " _The Shadow Realm? Then my nightmares are not a simple case of bad dreams_."

"What have you Seen?" Human Jim asked, his voice hesitant. Toby retched again, groaning.

" _The Shadow Realm is not merely a place, but its own being, an entity composed of every Darkness that has existed and will exist_ ," she said, keening again. " _The Darkness can reach across dimensions, infecting those of weakened wills. Humans are especially vulnerable, the Darkness infecting them with the desire to maim, hurt, kill... but, like a parent, it can also birth its own children. If these Arachne are truly from the Shadow Realm, then they are beings born from the Darkness and nurtured within its evil embrace. What is coming will be the greatest danger that you will face_."

"No, wait," Human Jim said, darting forward to stand next to Jim, his voice panicked and his expression filled with anxiety. " _You_ said that Troll Me would live for a long time, so... I'm not going to get axed off by whatever this thing is, right? I can still protect everyone?"

" _I cannot See,_ " she shook her head slightly, reluctance in her voice. " _I cannot See those details. It is unwise to know too much._ "

"Aw, c'mon!" Toby said in a hoarse voice, his breathing heavy. "Where's the fun in that?"

"Toby, shut up before you hurt yourself even more," Jim said, rolling his eyes. "She's already given us more than enough information, and she's right: we shouldn't know too much of our own future, or you end up obsessing over it and possibly end up making things worse."

The dragon relaxed again and silently turned her head to shuffle through her nest. Almost lovingly, she pushed the shattered remains of one of her empty eggs toward them. " _Take what you need, Trollhunter. The future will not be easy, but you must face it. Avenge my babies_."

"Thank you, Mother," Jim replied in a soft voice, lifting his hand from her tail to gently touch her snout again. Human Jim stepped forward and gathered some of the eggshell pieces together to put into a bag Toby had been carrying. "I promise."

As if on cue, a black portal opened up in the space behind Human Jim. The dragon flinched back, startled by the tear into the Shadow Realm. She merely looked away, seeming to understand that this portal was being used by them and not by some evil, dark creature.

Human Jim sighed in relief and shot the dragon a grateful smile, bowing to her slightly. Turning to Toby, the boy grabbed his friend and proceeded to drag him through the portal.

" _Trollhunter_."

Jim looked to the dragon as she called out to him again, pausing just before jumping into the portal after his younger self. "Yes, Mother?"

She seemed hesitant for a moment, eyeing him carefully, and then she closed her eyes and rested her head on her paws. Cocking his head to the side in curiosity, Jim opened his mouth to ask her what she wanted to say, but he suddenly found that he couldn't say anything. He could feel himself still standing in the same space, the cool and damp air of the cave, the scent of moss and soot, but his eyes were not seeing the place that he knew he was in. Instead, he was standing in a warmly lit cave, fashioned together with a combination of stone, wood, and cloth furniture. Shelves were carved directly into the walls, holding books, magical trinkets, glowing crystals of various colors, and photographs. Looking up, Jim gasped as he recognized the orange glow of a Heartstone crystal emerging in large chunks on the stone ceiling of the cave. The sound of sobbing suddenly caught his attention, and Jim's heart raced as he recognized Claire's voice... and his own.

 _This... this is a vision of the future_ , Jim realized, and he made to step forward toward the voices that seemed to be coming from a room to the left whose entrance was covered with a tattered curtain. Movement to his lower right caught his attention, and he froze as he looked down at the small child that was pacing back and forth, chewing nervously on her fingers.

"Ellie..." Jim breathed in recognition, though the child was much younger than the one he had seen in the vision that Kanjigar had shown him. The little girl in front of him must have only been 3 or 4, her hair loose and only long enough to reach her shoulders. Her horns were little more than nubs on her head, barely protruding from the cover of her hair. She was wearing typical toddler clothes, soft pants and a pajama shirt with some kind of cartoon character on it, her feet bare. Jim crouched down, reaching out to touch the child's freckled cheek, her image rippling as his hand passed straight through.

"Mama...?" the little girl called, looking right through Jim, toward the room where the sobbing was coming from. "Daddy...? Is baby here yet?"

Jim's breath caught, looking between the anxious toddler and the room she was looking to. His heart pounded furiously in his chest as he listened to Claire's cries; they were not cries of physical pain...

The curtain ruffled, and then Jim was staring at his own troll self, his expression exhausted, face wet with tears. His hands and clothes were covered in blood. The future him took a shaky breath and leaned back against the wall, sliding down into a sitting position. Ellie rushed forward, throwing herself into her father's arms.

"Am I big sista?" she asked in muted excitement, continuing to chew anxiously on her fingers. "Baby brover here?"

"No..." Future Jim sighed, nuzzling the child lovingly, a sob catching in his throat. "He's not here anymore..."

Jim was back in the cave again, the mother dragon in front of him, her eyes open and staring him down. Choking back an anguished whine, his wide eyes met the dragon's. "Why...?"

" _It is preventable_."

"How?!" Jim demanded, his fists clenching together to keep his hands from shaking.

" _The Darkness..._ " her voice echoed ominously in his head, her eyes blinking slowly. " _You must confront the darkness before the next Blood Moon_."

"I don't even know what it _is_!" he growled in frustration, grabbing one of his horns and tugging anxiously. "Let alone when the next Blood Moon is!" Though, he noted, there _was_ something familiar about what she was saying, like he was learning something all over again, but he couldn't remember the first time he had learned it. His head ached.

" _Three years from now_ ," she said, tilting her head back to gesture to the white full moon hovering in the sky outside of the cave. " _You must confront the Darkness and defeat it before the Blood Moon peaks. If not..._ "

Jim took in a shaky breath and squared his shoulders, shaking off the anguish and confusion weighing him down. Nodding once toward the dragon, he lightly pat her tail in thanks. Turning, Jim jumped into the portal without hesitation, determined not to allow what she had shown him come to pass.

 _To be continued..._

 **†** _PLEASE REVIEW!_ **†**


	19. Chapter Nineteen

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

 _I am so sorry for my lateness, my loves! Apparently, when one goes to the beach for two weeks, it's customary for your co-workers to pile all of your tasks up on your desk instead of divvying them up between the three other people who are perfectly cabpable of doing the same job. So, I've been playing catch up with work, so I apologize for my lateness. I hope to update again soon. Enjoy!_

 **Chapter Nineteen**

"I'm hungry," Claire complained lightly, frowning down at her belly as she settled in on the couch. She'd been released from the hospital the morning after she'd been admitted, with strict instructions for lots of bedrest — which didn't make her very happy.

"Hi, Hungry. I'm Jim," Jim attempted to joke, grinning at her weakly.

"Really?" Toby groaned while his best friends snickered and giggled. The boy had a bandage wrapped around his head and was still a little dazed. "Dad jokes already?"

"Figured I should prepare for the role," he replied with a laugh.

" _Jim_ ," Claire whined playfully, nudging his leg with her foot. "I want some squirrel."

"You have access to pizza, and you want _squirrel_?!" Human Jim asked, a disgusted look on his face. His girlfriend, her hands covered in salve and wrapped in bandages, looked a little green.

"Mmm, yeah..." she sighed dreamily, rubbing her belly as it grumbled. "Ooh! Unless you think we could get pizza and put some shredded squirrel on top?"

Jim chuckled, shaking his head apologetically. "I can't go hunting out in the sun, babe."

Claire frowned, pouting. "...Oh, okay, fine... do we have any pickles? And ketchup?"

"...That's a lot of vinegar, don't you think?" Younger Claire said in a hesitant voice, eyeing her older self in concern. "You'll get heartburn."

Claire's pout deepened. "...but I'm hungry."

"How about enchiladas?" Jim asked, and his mate's eyes lit up excitedly. Laughing, he stood and headed into the kitchen, surprised when his younger self followed after him.

"I remember how to cook," Jim teased, rifling through the fridge for the ingredients. True, he could never make the dish as well as Claire's mother could, but he did a pretty good job all the same, and Claire had always enjoyed them.

"I know," Human Jim replied, his smile soft as he watched him chop up some onions with the same ease that he'd held as a human. "I just... _squirrel_? Really?"

Jim shrugged with a laugh, grabbing a pan from the cabinet and placing it on the lit burner. "She likes rabbit more, but they've got too much lean meat, and not enough fat, so they're more of a once-in-awhile treat."

Human Jim nodded, picking up a knife and slicing some tomatoes for the sauce. "Protein poisoning."

"Yeah," Jim nodded, putting some ground meat into the pan to fry. "Squirrels have some more fat on them, and deer too; but it's winter in our time, so most of the readily available game are hibernating or hiding."

They fell into a comfortable silence for a few minutes, the sound of chopping knives and sizzling meat echoing in the air. Jim idly felt a bit of annoyance over the fact that the food smelled great to him, yet he knew from experience that it would taste awful. He had to bite back a laugh as he watched his younger self absently pop a piece of tomato in his mouth, clearly enjoying the taste.

"Yuck," Jim teased, scrunching his nose slightly at the surprised look the boy gave him.

Blushing slightly, Human Jim swallowed the food in his mouth and grinned apologetically. "Sorry. If Blinky thought troll food tasted bad as a human, then human food must taste bad to you as a troll, huh?"

"Pretty much," Jim shrugged, giving his younger self a soft smile. "It would be easier if it smelled bad too, but it still smells the same to me. Makes me think it will be tasty, but then I gag at the taste."

"Please tell me I haven't started hunting down cats, though?" he asked in a horrified voice, his expression anxious.

"No way," Jim laughed, shaking his head. "I can hunt down rodents and deer, but I can't get past the idea of certain animals as pets. Nyrys thinks I'm crazy."

"Nyrys?" Human Jim asked, pausing in his dicing of the onions to look to his older self in confusion. "Who's that?"

"Oh, that's right," Jim remembered, laughing at the bewildered look on his counterpart's face. "I forgot that you haven't really met her yet. You've seen her, though — she's one of the troll whelps. Purple, orange hair, little nubs for horns?"

"Sounds familiar," the boy hummed thoughtfully, his gaze distant as he seemed to go through his memories. "I haven't seen many of the kids. I saw Norie's baby after Cor stopped mate guarding. He kill anyone else?"

"Nah," Jim laughed lightly, cringing at the memory and the knowledge that he was likely to act the same when Claire eventually went into labor. "He's still protective, but he only got threatening because Norie and his whelp were vulnerable. Claire's the only one pregnant now; everyone else is being sensible enough to wait until we find a home."

"Claire said the Heartstone will die," his younger self said in a quiet and sad voice. "Morgana's going to kill it."

"Gunmar did the most damage," Jim admitted, concentrating on the familiar motions of cooking. Even months later, when all he'd had to cook over was a fire pit in random locations, the movements of the kitchen still came to him without a thought. Briefly glancing over his shoulder to note that the divider on the bar was closed, he continued, "but Morgana drains the last of its power. Even without her, I don't think it would have survived long."

"Claire said that too," Human Jim replied, nodding with a deep frown.

"When we were in Gato's Keep?" Jim asked, though he already knew the answer. When else had _his_ Claire and his other self been alone together to discuss anything like that?

"Yeah," the boy nodded, dumping the onions and tomatoes into a pot to stew on one of the stove's back burners. Nervously, he added, "We were only talking about stuff, though!"

"I was kidding about being jealous of myself, y'know?" Jim laughed, shuffling himself aside so that his human self could use the stove too.

"I know," Human Jim said in a small voice, laughing embarrassedly. "I guess... I mean, it just feels really weird. She's Claire, but... _not_ Claire; like how you're _me_ , but not me."

Jim frowned slightly. "I know I'm physically different, but—"

"It's not that," Human Jim said in a hurried voice, his face reddening a little. "I just... you're so... _adult_."

"Wh-what?" Jim laughed incredulously. "I am _not_ —"

"But you _are_ ," the boy insisted, and Jim couldn't help but notice the nervous and terrified voice his younger self was speaking in. "You're _married_ , and you're gonna be a _dad_. I have no idea how to be someone's _dad_! And you're not even _phased_ about it all! And—"

"I _am_ phased," Jim interrupted in a quiet voice, staring down at the sizzling meat to avoid looking at the boy he once was. "I... I'm terrified. I'm not... I'm not suddenly some mature adult just because I'm a few months older, and I've got more responsibilities. I'm just doing what needs to be done. I _wasn't_ kidding when I said that I was trying to be the responsible one that day."

"What?" Human Jim questioned, his voice confused. Jim sighed, and looked up, his face heating in slight embarrassment, though he knew the others couldn't hear them between their own conversations and the closed divider in the kitchen.

"The day Ellie was conceived," he clarified, chuckling at the way his younger self's face immediately turned bright red. Jim tore his gaze away to look back down at the pan again, pushing the meat around with a spatula. "Claire was trying to be subtle when she said that I was easily _riled up_."

"Um," the boy laughed nervously, snorting a little. "I think her demonstration sort of proved her point."

"Well, yeah," Jim replied, rolling his eyes. "But, I mean... she was... _really_ difficult to resist. I tried, but I know I should have tried harder."

"So, you regret—"

" _No_!" Jim growled, unable to squash the panic that rose in his chest at the thought of his child not existing. Reining himself in, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I don't regret anything; I just know things would have been easier on us if we had at least waited until we got to New Jersey, but..."

"But...?" Jim's younger self urged after a few moments of silence.

"You know how Cor was mate guarding while Norie was in labor?" Jim asked instead, trying to give a relative example. "And how trolls growl when they're mad? And whine when they're upset? And react to certain things and situations in certain ways?"

"Well, yeah," Human Jim said, laughing a little as he echoed the same phrase his older self had used only a minute prior. "They're more animalistic and more instinct driv— _oh_."

"Yeah," Jim confirmed, lifting his free hand to tug anxiously at his horn. "She was... _ready_ , and... I could tell by her scent."

" _Oh_ ," his younger self repeated, the sound deeper as he continued to realize what Jim was trying to say. "And, so... when she said 'yes'..."

"That was it."

"Oh."

"Pretty much."

They lapsed into silence again, though Jim was glad that it was more contemplative than awkward; it seemed that he'd given his younger self a lot to consider, and he wondered if — as, according to Merlin, Time looped around on itself, and all of this had happened before — he did actually remember some of this subconsciously. Had he inadvertently sealed his own fate by speaking with his younger self like that? But, then again, hadn't the mother dragon said that his choice altered with each loop of Time? But, by that same token, wouldn't it be safe to assume that his own traveling back in Time was dependent on his choice of becoming a troll? That it _couldn't_ happen if he decided to stay human because his human self would die and therefore never create the events that would lead to the time traveling in the first place? Then it could only be the path of Time where he _would_ choose to give up his humanity that he could perceivably only travel back to? Jim's head ached, and it had nothing to do with his anxiety driven horn tugging habit.

"What did the dragon say to you?"

"Huh?" Jim was pulled from his convoluted thoughts at the unexpected question. He was a little surprised — in a pleased sort of way — to note that he'd continued to go through all of the proper motions of cooking and wrapping the meat in the tortillas perfectly while going through a mini mental breakdown.

"The dragon," Human Jim repeated, using a hand purée device to smoothen the sauce. "You didn't follow right after us, and when you came through, you looked... upset."

"It was nothing," he replied, shrugging, though his heart twisted in his chest at the reminder of the vision he had been shown. "It's not going to happen."

"You mean, I won't _let_ it happen," the boy stated, not asked, though Jim nodded anyway. "What was it, though?"

Jim hesitated, not really wanting to relive the nightmare, but knowing his own curiosity well enough to know the boy wasn't going to just let it go. "...don't say anything to Claire."

He looked up to see Human Jim blink, jerking back a little in surprise. "But I tell Claire everything. We agreed _never_ to keep secrets aga—"

"This is different," Jim insisted, his voice low as he glanced toward the closed bar divider. The others were still talking and laughing, though he knew his Claire could clearly feel his emotions through their bond. She kept pushing a feeling of concern to him, but he responded only with enough calm to assure her that he was okay, but stressed. She could interpret that in any number of ways, and she would still be right while not hitting it spot on. "This will only hurt her and make her worry — and she doesn't need that right now, especially if I'm going to make sure that it doesn't happen at all."

"Does the kid get hurt or something?" Human Jim asked, his eyes wide and his voice slightly panicked.

Jim sighed, taking the pot of sauce from his human self and pouring it over the enchiladas. "...not Pumpkin." His younger self only gave him a more confused look, and Jim busied himself with grating some cheeses over the top of the enchiladas and sauce. "...she showed me a vision of something that's going to happen in a few years, but the result is dependent on the defeat of a specific enemy... not that I could get much info from her _on_ that enemy; she only knew what she Saw, not the exact details behind it."

"What happens? Is _Claire_ going to get hurt?!"

"Shh!" Jim hushed his younger self, whose voice was beginning to rise with his panic. Claire pushed another feeling of concern and worry along their bond, and he concentrated on responding with a slightly stress-tinged feeling of peace.

"Sorry," the boy said, biting his lip, but still looking to his older self in desperation. "But have you been taking lessons in vagueness from Strickler? Just _tell me_."

"We're going to have another baby," Jim said, his voice dropping to nearly a whisper. "A boy. But... if this enemy isn't defeated by a certain point in Time, then... he won't survive the birth."

" _What_?!" Human Jim gasped, and Jim was thankful that the shock kept his younger self's voice low and hoarse. "But how—"

"I don't know," Jim interrupted, predicting the question. "The dragon didn't know much, either. She could only show me what she Saw, and she could only tell me that she had Seen that a powerful enemy was the cause."

"More powerful than Gunmar?" Jim's younger self asked incredulously, his eyes nearly fully dilated with his fear.

"She didn't say," he replied, placing the baking dish with the prepared enchiladas in the oven to bake. "I don't think she knew, but... it sounded like it."

"Great," the boy deadpanned, slapping his hands against his face. "Those scars on your chest don't suggest that Gunmar is gonna be an easy defeat, even as a troll! How am I supposed to fight someone _worse_?!"

"Those are from Morgana, actually," Jim sighed, though he agreed with his younger self's angst-fueled anxiety. "Gunmar is a cake walk compared to her."

"Double great," the boy groaned, shaking his head into his hands. "Any hints on how I kick _her_ ass and live?"

"I didn't," he replied, leaning back against the counter, unable to distract himself with any more cooking. Human Jim pulled his head from his hands and looked up in surprise. Sighing in defeat, Jim stared at the floor and continued speaking in a quiet voice. "She would have killed all of us, if it hadn't been for Claire. As it was, I took the most damage."

" _Claire_ defeats Morgana?" Human Jim gasped, a proud grin spreading across his face. "That's my girl! Though... I guess that explains why she becomes so afraid of Morgana's Shadow Magic..."

"Yeah, it was scarring in more ways than one," Jim admitted, his hand absently pressing against the scar over his heart.

"If all that you're left with are some nasty scars, then you should consider yourself quite lucky, indeed."

Jim and his counterpart both looked up at the voice, surprised to find Merlin standing by the back door, his expression bored and indifferent.

"For a wizard with most of his magic sapped," Human Jim grumbled in annoyance, "you sure know how to sneak up on people."

"Hardly," Merlin replied, waving his hand in the air. "You were merely preoccupied with your conversation. I trust all is well with the future Claire?"

"She needs rest," Jim said, grudgingly responding to the old man. "Her body needs to heal itself."

"Mm, yes," Merlin nodded, his expression thoughtful. "Though I see that she was protected by those magical trinkets you both wear. Interesting. I understand why you would want her to wear a defensive charm, but as a troll, _you_ have no great need for one. Why do you wear them?"

Jim frowned, glancing down at the glowing, silver band on his left ring finger. "Our wedding bands?"

"Wedding bands?" the wizard repeated, his expression a combination of confusion and derision. "Is that what people are doing now? Wearing matching jewelry? In my day, a man would have to pay a young lady's father his best hog and at least ten years of hard labor in order to wed; now all you do is wear jewelry? What did you pay her father in exchange for her?"

"N-nothing," Jim laughed, bewildered by the conversation. His younger self was looking highly amused, despite his continued annoyance with the old man. "What are you—"

" _Nothing_?!" Merlin seemed genuinely aghast at Jim's admittance, and he didn't think he'd ever seen the wizard show so much emotion before. "How did you prove your loyalty to him?"

"Generally, when you marry someone, you're promising to be loyal, anyway..." Human Jim said, snickering at the wandering conversation. "That's, like... the whole point of getting married."

"Promises are meaningless and foolish," Merlin rolled his eyes, his mouth set in a hard frown. "And wearing jewelry?! Really, _what_ is the significance, I ask you?! You don't pay the woman, you pay her father!"

"What are you _talking_ about?" Jim asked incredulously. " _You're_ the one who..." Jim trailed off, a pulse of shock going through him as he realized what was happening. Claire responded to his feelings immediately, but he was too stunned to reassure her, and he barely noticed that the conversation in the other room had started to quiet. "You _knew_!"

"I beg your pardon?" Merlin asked, blinking in confusion at the accusation.

"You _knew_!" Jim repeated, both angry and grateful; it was an odd combination of emotions, and he didn't quite know how to deal with it. Add in Claire's increasing worry, and he was likely to strangle the wizard. "You _knew_ we were going to get thrown back in Time! You _knew_ she would be hurt! You _knew_ because you _remembered_!"

"Well, naturally, as a wizard, I am immune to most mind effecting magics," Merlin said in an off-hand voice, waving a dismissive hand in the air again. "When your mate becomes stronger in her magics, she will be immune as well. But I hardly see how that has any bearing on—"

" _You're_ the one who gave us the bands!" Jim growled, gripping the counter behind him to still his hands from pounding on the old man. " _You're_ the one who cast the defensive charms on them!"

"Hm," the wizard replied, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Interesting. Well, it rather sounds like I saved the day, then, hm?"

"Dude!" Jim and his human counterpart looked up in surprise as the bar window was ripped back to reveal the two Claires and Toby, clearly having heard the last part of the conversation. With a furious expression, Toby continued, "If you're gonna remember all this, then why not warn them about it first, instead of being all sneaky with magic rings?! You could stop all this from happening, in the first place!"

"And how would I do that?" Merlin asked as if the answer was right there in front of them, and they just weren't seeing it.

Jim, who had been throwing around various Time-related questions in his head for the past 2 days, thought he might have an idea of what the wizard was getting at. "He couldn't."

"What the heck do you me—" Younger Claire started, but her older self was the one who answered.

"Because it would be a paradox," she said, her eyes finding Jim's as she came to the same realization as he had. "He couldn't prevent this because, if he had, then we wouldn't have been thrown back in Time. If that hadn't happened, then he would have no way of remembering this because it wouldn't have happened, and he wouldn't be able to warn us, which would cause everything to happen anyway."

"Exactly," the old man beamed proudly at Claire, pleased that she had caught on, though Jim could feel his mate's continued unease around the wizard and saw the way she flinched slightly as he addressed her. "I told you — Time is a continuous loop; it has to be solid and fluid together, in order to maintain itself. Magic aside, Time is its own entity; it knows what it wants and what must be, and it will always do what it must in order to ensure its own continuity."

"Then why would it allow itself to be ripped apart?" Toby asked, a challenging glare on his face.

"Why did you allow yourself to be knocked out by a dragon?" Merlin asked in return, his voice flippant and sarcastic.

"I didn't—!"

"Exactly," the wizard repeated, crossing his arms over his chest haughtily. "You were injured; in the same way, Time was injured. Just as your body will heal itself with the proper care, Time will heal itself as well — which brings us to the subject at hand: the potion is almost ready."

"What do you need now?" Younger Claire asked in an exasperated voice, her shoulders slumping tiredly. "A fairy's wing? Gruesome sludge? Unicorn poop?"

"Good heavens," Merlin said, giving the girl an affronted look. "What kind of magic are they teaching nowadays? What use is there for _unicorn_ droppings? Now, gnome urine has some quite interesting magical properties, but—"

" _Merlin_ ," Jim interrupted, reining in his flying emotions to put the wizard back on track. "What do you need?"

"I told you before," the old man said, sighing tiredly and allowing his stance to relax, his arms falling to his sides. "Magic requires certain sacrifices — especially when dealing with such complex magics as this."

"If you think, for even _one minute_ —" Claire began in a hard voice, cradling her belly protectively and backing away from the bar window.

"Calm yourself, woman," Merlin said, rolling his eyes. "I already have what I needed from you, thanks to the mess you left in the washroom. It was actually quite fortunate, in a way; the way you bled included your own blood and the child's, which was exactly part of what I needed."

"Blood?" Jim asked, frowning in confusion and worry. "You needed blood?"

"Yes," Merlin nodded, taking a step forward. Claire took another step back, bumping into the table behind her, despite there being half a wall and a kitchen counter between her and the wizard. Jim tensed, unconsciously shifting his body just enough to shield his mate, though he knew that the old man wasn't going to attack her or anyone else. Merlin noticed Claire's unease and halted, frowning slightly as he continued to address Jim. "I still need some more blood, though. The original recipe, which — as you recall — was only meant to summon a _vision_ of the future, called for the personal item of the person or persons that the vision was to be centered on; however, the way I've altered it requires a stronger anchor because your physical bodies will be transferred through Time, rather than Time opening a viewing window. I have the Fair Claire's blood, and the child's, and now I need yours, Jim."

"That's all?" Human Jim asked, clearly surprised and a little suspicious at the relative ease of Merlin's last request. "No unicorns?"

"What is this obsession with unicorns that you people have?"

"It's the memes," Toby replied in a grave voice, closing his eyes in an exaggerated expression of contemplation. "It's all about the memes."

"What is a... _meme_?" Merlin looked a little frightened, and Jim couldn't help but laugh.

"It's just a jo—" Jim began, shaking his head in amusement, but he was interrupted once again by the sound of the front door opening and a female voice calling out.

"Claire? Mi amor, I brought taco soup!"

Claire tensed, vaulting herself over the bar counter with far more grace than Jim would have thought her current form would allow. He caught her before she could fall and face plant into the floor, and she gripped his arms tightly, wheeling his body protectively in front of hers. The fact that she was willingly showing her back to Merlin showed that she was far more afraid of her mother at that point. The others watched her with confused and worried expressions, their younger selves exchanging raised eyebrows.

" _You called her_?!" Claire hissed, glaring around Jim's arm at her younger self.

Younger Claire shrugged, confused. "She was worried about why I hadn't called or came home last night, so I just told her that you had to go to the hospital..."

"Worried, my ass..." Claire grumbled, hiding behind Jim as best as she could as her mother entered the tense dining room with a sealed container.

"Oh, honey, why on earth are you hiding in the kitchen like that?" Ophelia laughed as she caught sight of her future daughter peeking out from behind Jim. She set the container down on the bar counter, offering the Younger Claire a brief kiss to her cheek. Jim felt Claire tense behind him as she watched them, anger and jealousy building in her. Ophelia, seemingly oblivious to the tense atmosphere, prattled on as she took the lid off of the container, showing the still hot soup inside. "Claire said you were hurt in a fight and had to go to the hospital, so I made some Taco Soup, and I made up the guest room at home, so you can rest their until Merlin can send you and Jim back to your own Time."

"Th-thank you, Mom," Claire said, her voice breaking in emotion. Jim felt her curl herself closer against his back, her hands tight and shaking on his arm. "I... I appreciate that."

"Of course, Bebé," Ophelia replied with a bright smile. "I figured you could have a nice lunch with your friends and then come home to rest."

"I'd... feel more comfortable staying with Jim," Claire said, her whole body now trembling in a combination of anger and nervous fear.

 _This_ definitely _doesn't count as bedrest_ , Jim sighed to himself, noting the confused and anxious looks on the others faces, though Merlin looked only slightly concerned. Apparently, Younger Claire had left out the 'pregnant' part of her explanation to Ophelia — whether purposefully or not, Jim didn't know.

Ophelia laughed, oblivious to her future daughter's clear discomfort. "Mi amor, don't be silly. I know this all has to be really strange and confusing, and then being hurt on top of all of that has got to be exhausting, but Jim must be tired and stressed too. Let your friend rest here while you rest at home."

"Mom," Younger Claire laughed, shaking her head in amused confusion. "You know Jim and I are dating."

"Of course," the woman replied, frowning down at the girl as if she were missing the point. "But obviously that's not going to last, what with Jim becoming a _troll._ " Turning back to smile at Claire kindly, she continued, not noticing at all the shock on the kids' faces or the growing fury radiating off of Claire. Jim bit his tongue, not wanting to make the situation any worse than it was quickly becoming. "And I think it's wonderful that you're still such great friends, but I'm sure you'll both be more comfortable if you don't have to worry about each other for a while."

"Uh, yeah," Toby laughed nervously, eyeing Ophelia like she'd grown a second head. "You were there yesterday when they were kissing..."

"That wasn't _romantic_ ," Ophelia laughed, shaking her head almost forcefully, clearly in denial over the obviousness of her daughter's continued relationship with the boy-turned-troll that she had never approved of.

"Oh, here we go," Jim groaned quietly, letting his chin drop to his chest in exasperation when his head exploded in pain at the same time that Claire's grip on his arm tightened and then vanished. In the next second, Claire's temper broke, and he looked up just in time to see Ophelia dodge a glass that Claire had thrown at her. The cup shattered against the bookshelf, shards flying everywhere.

"Claire!" Ophelia shouted in shocked outrage, swinging around from staring at the shattered glass to look at its thrower. "What has gotten into— _are you_ _ **pregnant**_?!"

"Mom—" Younger Claire began in a soft voice, putting a hand on her mother's arm cautiously.

" _No_!" Ophelia shouted, jerking back from her daughter's touch. Rounding on the kids, she continued screaming, gesturing back in Jim's and Claire's directions. "Did you _know about this_?" She turned back to Claire, her expression livid. "Is _that_ why you had to go to the hospital?! Could you not get an abortion in your own ti—"

"UGH!" Claire screamed in outrage, grabbing up another glass from the counter and flinging it at the older woman. Jim caught it before it could shatter against Ophelia's head when she failed to dodge in time. Claire rounded on him, throwing a hard punch against his chest, though she put less anger behind it than she had with the glass, more frustrated with him than angry.

"Claire Maria Nuñez," Ophelia said in a voice so quiet and filled with fury that it sent chills down Jim's spine. "I want you in the car in five minutes, or I'll—"

"Lake," Claire interrupted in a raised and hard voice, drowning out her mother's threat.

"What?" Ophelia asked, the random interruption breaking her fury momentarily.

"My _name..._ " Claire said in a clear voice, standing tall by Jim's side and making no effort to hide her advanced pregnancy. Jim grasped her hand in his, trying his best to quell her raging emotions before she fainted, which she was well on the way to doing with the way her heart was beating a mile a minute. "...is Claire _Lake_."

"Oh, this is _not_ happening," Ophelia cried out, throwing her hands up in frustration. Turning, she grabbed Younger Claire by the upper arm and started dragging her toward the front door.

"Mom!" the girl yelled, digging her heels in and trying to pull back from her mother's strong grip. She reached back for her boyfriend who automatically grabbed her around the middle and started helping her pull away from Ophelia. A moment later, Toby was adding his strength to the pulling, his arms wrapped around both of his best friends. "Mom, _stop it_! Let me go!"

"You are coming _home_ ," Ophelia said, accentuating her words with a hard tug on the girl's arm. Jim's heart leapt, recognizing the awkward way Younger Claire's arm was beginning to twist with the tug of war she was in the middle of. Ophelia yanked again, shouting, "and, _so help me_ , you will _never_ leave your room _again_. You are _forbidden_ from seeing Jim _ever_... _again_!"

"No, wait! Stop! You'll—" Jim made to jump forward when he heard a light cracking sound, but a second later there was a loud, echoing _snap_! and the girl screamed in agony, her arm twisting out of the socket.

Ophelia let go in shock and the kids fell to the floor in a rough pile, Younger Claire clutching her limp and awkwardly dangling arm in one of her blistered hands. "C-Claire! Honey, I—" the woman stopped herself, shaking her head as her expression hardened again. "Do you see what you've done now? Now, get up and—"

"Woah, there!" Jim gasped, catching his mate lightly around her chest as she flung herself forward to likely pummel her mother into the floor.

"I _hate_ you!" Claire shouted, fighting against Jim's hold with all of her might, though he easily kept her from hurting the older woman or herself. Tears were streaming down her face, choked sobs echoing from her chest, and even her younger self — who was also crying, though from physical pain — was holding back her sobs as they all watched the exchange in stunned silence.

"Claire..." Ophelia breathed out, her expression a strange combination of fury and shock.

"I hate you!" Claire shouted again, ceasing her struggles altogether so that Jim had to pull her back against his chest to keep her on her feet. "I hate you! Do you hear me? _I hate you_!"

"Oh, of all of the childish—" Ophelia seemed to break from her stupor with a roll of her eyes, her temper rising to rival that of her daughter's.

"Name a lullaby," Claire demanded, moving her trembling hands to grasp at Jim's forearms, which were crossed under her breasts and on top of her swollen belly, holding her up against him.

"What are you—"

"Name a lullaby," Claire repeated in a hard and scratchy voice, sniffling as her nose began to run with her tears. "Name one lullaby that you've ever sung to me or Enrique. Name even _one_."

Ophelia rolled her eyes again, crossing her arms across her chest and cocking her hip to the side in exasperated annoyance. "Are you being serious right now? What has that got to do with—"

" _Name one_!" Claire screamed, her knees beginning to wobble. Jim tightened his embrace, moving his leg so that his mate could lean back further and brace herself against his thigh. She was definitely going to faint, but there was no way he could do anything to stop it at that point. She was too angry, and he knew that she needed this, no matter what hurtful words would be exchanged. _This_ Ophelia would never remember any of this, and though it would hurt, Claire could say everything that she had been holding back for the past 6 months.

"I never sang any to you or your brother!" Ophelia shouted back, her face reddening with her increasing anger. Jim noticed out of the corner of his eye that Blinky and AAARRRGGHH! were peeking out of the basement in confused worry and Merlin had gone to the kids' sides, moving them out of the path of any more dangerous projectiles. "There's no time to indulge in such fanciful things as—"

"You never _made_ time!" Claire replied on a sob, her fingers trying to dig into her mate's flesh. "The world revolves around _you_! You and your _stupid career_!"

"That _stupid career_ paid for your education, young la—" Ophelia raged, her arms falling to her sides and her hands curling into fists.

"No!" Claire said, shaking her head frantically. "Your _stupid career_ paid for a permanent _daycare_! The only reason you let me come home from boarding school is because you messed around on Dad and _got pregnant_!"

"Claire!" Ophelia gasped, her face paling as her eyes darted to the others in the room, her expression nervous. "How could you accuse me of such a—"

"He's got blonde hair and pale skin, Mom!"

"That doesn't mean—"

"Enrique is NotEnrique's familiar!" Claire insisted, her expression daring her mother to continue lying. "That means that their souls are connected, and _that_ means that he knows every detail about Enrique. _Every - single - detail_!"

"Claire—"

"Admit it!" Claire screamed, wobbling again and leaning back heavily against Jim. "You pulled me from boarding school because you needed a _babysitter_! From the day he was born, _I'm_ the one who took care of him! _I'm_ the one who bathed him, and changed him, and fed him, and worried for him! You never even _noticed_ that he was acting differently when he was switched!"

"How was I supposed to know that him being switched with a _troll_ was even _possible_?!" Ophelia shouted, her voice high and screechy with a combination of anger and panic.

"Because _you're_ his _mother_!" Claire cried, and Jim tightened his hold on her as her body lurched with a heavy sob. " _I_ didn't know trolls existed then, either, but I still knew that he wasn't acting right! How can _anyone_ not even recognize their own child's behaviors?"

"You couldn't possibly understand—" her mother raged back, throwing her hands into the air.

"Understand _what_?" demanded Claire, starting to tug at Jim's arms again, struggling to get out of his hold so that she could likely try to strangle the enraged woman in front of them. "Understand that you care more about your _career_ than your own _children_? Why did you even _have_ us if you were never even going to be an actual _mother_ to us?!"

"Because you were a _mistake_!"

A stunned silence echoed in the room after Ophelia's miserable revelation. Claire slumped back in Jim's arms, stunned and heartbroken. It didn't matter if she might have thought or suspected that what her mother was saying was true; the confirmation of it out loud was still harsh.

"M-Mama..." Younger Claire whimpered, staring up at her mother in stunned shock, tears streaming down her face as she trembled in her boyfriend's arms. The boy looked how Jim felt, glaring at Ophelia with pure fury.

But Ophelia seemed to be on a roll now, also getting years of pent up emotions off of her chest. "I was on my way to becoming _governor_ , and then _you_ happened! If Javier hadn't been so _noble_ and _responsible_ —" she spit the words out with a strong tone of resentment, her own tears beginning to spill over. "It doesn't matter. I care about you, and you're _mine_ , and I won't let you make the same mistakes as I did!"

"I'm no one's _property_!" Claire sobbed. "And my babies will _never_ be a _mistake_!"

Ophelia didn't respond except to bring her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose in frustration. After a tense minute of silence, the woman huffed, and opened her eyes to glare at her daughter, first the future one and then the younger one. "Fine — you do whatever you want. Have as many disgusting animal babies as you want—"

Jim growled threateningly, unable to hold back his own temper anymore. "I'm _not_ an animal!"

"That _is_ true," Merlin interjected, his tone scholarly, ignoring the glares being shot at him. "Trolls are not exactly _human_ , per se, but they do share strains of common traits with humans, often facilitated by magic. Particularly the Huldufólk, like Jim; cross-breeding between their kind and humans is fairly common, as they carry the most humanoid traits of the troll breeds."

"Will the kid have horns?" Ophelia asked in a hard voice, glaring down the wizard menacingly. Jim's growl deepened, a snarl baring his teeth.

"Well," Merlin went on, either oblivious or purposefully ignoring Ophelia's clear disgust and outrage. "Horns are a likely possibility; they'll be quite stunning when fully grown, I imagine. Hulders are often revered for their beauty in both the human and troll worlds."

Ophelia tsk'd under her breath, rolling her watery eyes. "If it has horns, then it's definitely _not_ human, and I _will not_ accept any kind of... of... _humanoid cow_ —"

" _Shut up_!" Human Jim shouted, holding his girlfriend protectively against his chest. " _Our life_ is never going to affect _you_ , anyway, so why are you freaking out over it?!"

"It won't," Ophelia replied, squaring her shoulders and turning her back on everyone. Silently, she began heading for the front door, not once glancing back. "Because I don't have a daughter, anymore. You can live whatever life you want and make as many _mutt_ babies as you want, because they have no relationship to me whatsoever. As far as I'm concerned, my daughter is _dead_."

And with that, Ophelia was gone, slamming the front door so hard behind her that the windows rattled in their frames. All was silent for a minute, and then Younger Claire burst into heavy, gasping sobs, clinging to her boyfriend with her good arm like he was the only thing holding her in reality. Likewise, Claire was trembling in Jim's arms, turning to hide her tear strained face in his neck, nuzzling him almost desperately. Toby sat on the floor by his best friends, a completely stunned look on his face, like he was still trying to process what had happened, and Blinky and AAARRRGGHH! were frozen in place, half hanging out from the basement door.

"You see," Merlin huffed after taking a look around at the emotional mess in the room. "Promises are foolish."

"Oh, shut up, Merlin," both Jims groaned simultaneously.

"Hm," the wizard hummed, frowning. After a moment, he continued in a bright voice, "Well, as fun as that fiasco was, I do still need some blood from you, Trollhunter."

Jim's only response was to hug his sobbing mate closer and glare at the old man in exasperation.

 _To be continued..._

 **»** _REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!_ **«**


	20. Chapter Twenty

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

 _Updates might be a little slow for a while; my laptop crashed a couple of months ago, and I've been writing primarily on my phone since then. Secondly, I have a damned soft heart, and I take in any stray, injured animal I come across. I currently have a very sweet stray cat and her brood of four newborns, two of whom are quite sick. I am also nursing an injured Cardinal back to health. All this on top of my own brood of four cats, four dogs, and two birds. I told you: damned soft heart. Anywho, I hope you enjoy this chapter, my loves!_

 **Chapter Twenty**

"I don't think it's broken," Jim murmured quietly as he felt the younger Claire's arm with as light of a touch as he could manage. Frowning, he gently felt around the girl's shoulder, but jerked his hands back when she cried out at the touch. "I'm sorry… I can put it back… but it's gonna hurt."

"It doesn't matter," she replied in a hollow voice. Her tears had long since stopped flowing, only to be replaced with a complete sense of emptiness. Jim and his younger self exchanged worried glances, and even his own Claire made a small noise of concern in the back of her throat.

"I know a spell that can help with the pain," Claire said, taking her younger self's good hand in both of hers, as they all sat huddled together in the middle of the kitchen floor. Jim could only imagine that it was the fact that his mate hadn't been living with her parents for a little over half a year that allowed her to maintain her calm demeanor despite her heartache. "…and… you're not going to remember any of this."

"You will," was the whispered reply, Younger Claire turning her head to hide her face once more into her boyfriend's chest.

Claire sighed, her whole body slumping in exhaustion, both physical and emotional. "I will, but… it's easier to deal with now. You're still at home, with Mom and Dad and Enrique… Jim and I have been living together with just the trolls for almost a year. It hurts, but it's not like I'm not going to have a family; it will just be… our _own_ family, instead of just being a part of theirs."

"You got us, Claire," Toby said, patting the girl on her good shoulder. "I mean, yeah, you'll have to settle for _me_ as a brother, but at least ol' Warhammer's got your back, right, Shadow Dancer?"

Younger Claire cracked a weak smile, unable to resist Toby's dorky charms. "Yeah, T.P. Tha— AH!"

While the girl was distracted, Jim grabbed her arm and shoved it back into place with a loud _crack_!, grimacing in guilt at the pain that he was causing her. "Sorry."

"Here," Claire said in a gentle voice, shuffling forward on her knees, her hands glowing slightly with white light as she laid them on her younger self's shoulder and upper arm. Immediately, the girl's tense posture relaxed into her boyfriend's loose embrace as the pain was lifted from her. As she concentrated on her magic, Claire gave a little laugh. "I hadn't thought..."

"What?" Human Jim prompted, though he never took his gaze from the Claire in his arms.

"I remember being _so_ sore," Claire chuckled, the glow in her hands dissipating slowly as she pulled them back, her younger self looking far more comfortable. "I thought it was just that I wasn't used to wearing armor—"

"Wait! _Armor_?" Toby interrupted in an excited voice. "You get _armor_?!"

Claire nodded, shooting Merlin an anxious, yet also somewhat grateful look. "You and I both do. Merlin... Merlin makes them for us so that we could go into battle with Jim."

Human Jim's eyes widened, his shoulders tensing, and Jim could see the downright panic in the twist of the boy's mouth. His human counterpart refrained from saying anything, though, but squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his face into his girlfriend's neck, hiding his expression in her hair.

"Well, can't have warriors going into a war without protection!" Merlin interjected, his arrogance starting to make a comeback. "Though I suppose it's use is rather short lived with your eagerness to procreate."

Jim glared at the wizard, who merely shrugged. Sighing, Jim shook his head and held out his hand to the old man. "You need my blood, right? The sooner we get home and close the wound in Time, the sooner everything won't even be a memory for all of them."

"Indeed," Merlin nodded, straightening his stance seriously. Seemingly from nowhere, the old man produced an intricately decorated dagger. Jim was so mentally exhausted at that point that he couldn't even be bothered to wonder whether he had pulled the item from somewhere in his armor or if the wizard had summoned it in the same manner that he could summon his sword. "Follow me, Trollhunter. Time is of the essence here — quite literally."

"How much blood are we talking about here?" Jim asked, standing to his feet to follow after him. Claire caught his hand in both of hers from the floor, a thrill of panic rushing through her. He offered her a weak smile and a light squeeze of his fingers, murmuring, "I'll be fine."

"Oh, not much," Merlin replied, already opening the basement door and heading down. Jim followed reluctantly, Claire grudgingly letting him go, though he could feel her distress rising, and he concentrated on trying to slow his slightly panicked heartbeat. "As the potion is working on mere theory, at the moment, I would rather err on the side of caution, however. A goblet full should do, I think."

"A _goblet_?" Jim repeated, not too keen on having the old man play medieval doctor on him and administer an old fashioned blood letting. "How much is a _goblet full_?"

"Sadly, not much at all," the wizard lamented with a wistful sigh. "Half of the goblet's charm lies solely within its decorative designs. Arthur and Gwen had the most beautiful set of—"

" _Merlin._ "

"The point being, of course," Merlin went on, ignoring the impatience in Jim's voice as they reached the bottom of the stairs. Barbara's canvases had been stacked haphazardly into a small tower in one of the far owners of the room, while a makeshift cooking area had been set up in the middle of the room, an electric hotplate glowing red beneath a heavy pot. "...is that goblets are refilled so often mostly because they only hold a few mere swigs, in the first place. Also, a nice mulled Elderberry wine has a delightfully smooth—"

"Merlin," Jim sighed, holding out his hand again. "Just get on with it — and that's my best stock pot, so you better wash it really well after all of this is over with."

"Yes, yes," Merlin replied, rolling his eyes and grabbing the wrist of his offered hand. Jim tensed slightly, but allowed the wizard to pull him closer to the pot, lifting the lid off of it to reveal a bubbling mass of crimson goo. "Now, do hold still."

And with that, the old man flipped the dagger in his hand and cleanly sliced into Jim's palm, deep enough for the injury to not heal over immediately and allow the blood to slowly gush forth and slip down into the bubbling liquid. Instead of his own crimson blood blending in with the crimson color of the potion, Jim was surprised to see that the potion started to change colors almost as soon as his blood began mixing in with it. From crimson, it turned brown, and then purple, followed by blue, which was then almost immediately replaced with a sickly yellow, before finally seeming to settle on a shimmering black. Jim swallowed thickly as he took in the final color, claustrophobic memories of thick, black water dragging him down, down, down...

"Jim? You're not breathing, boy!"

"Sorry," Jim gasped, jerking a little as Merlin's words broke through his memories. His hand hadn't moved, still streaming blood into the potion below, and he cringed as he looked up to meet the old man's slightly concerned gaze. "I..."

Merlin frowned slightly, producing a clean, white cloth from who knows where and pulling Jim's hand up to begin wrapping it. Jim watched the old man carefully, noting the careful and gentle way that he was dressing the wound. The wizard was taking exceptional care to make sure that his wrappings properly stemmed the bleeding until Jim's body could heal itself. Though Jim certainly knew that the wizard was brash, arrogant, self centered, and aggressively ambitious (and a thousand other negative things), it was difficult to imagine that the Merlin in front of him could have ever been the Merlin that Claire had seen in Morgana's memories — and yet...

"Why?" Jim asked in a quiet, but firm voice. Merlin's expression never faltered, though his perpetual frown deepened slightly. Jim made no further attempt at explaining his question; he knew that the wizard was perfectly aware of what he had meant.

"I do not ask for your understanding, nor your forgiveness, Trollhunter," Merlin replied after a moment of silence, keeping his gaze fixated on Jim's four fingered hand in his own. "What I did was deplorable and unforgivable, I do know this. Yet, if I were faced with the same choice, under the same circumstances, once more... despite the guilt that I would feel — that I _do_ feel — I would make the same choices."

"But _why_?" Jim insisted, hissing in slight pain as he unconsciously curled his hand into a frustrated fist. Merlin pried his fingers back, forcing Jim to keep his hand open. "I'm not going to pretend that I know _all_ of the stories, but... didn't you care for her at all? Even if you never loved her? She was your apprentice once... she couldn't have been nothing to you."

"Morgana — Morgan, back then — meant a great deal to me," Merlin explained in a soft, slightly choked voice. "And I realize that my actions are a large reason as to why she resorted to the Black Magiks — likely, even, the primary reason... but we were in a time of war. Magical creatures, such as the trolls, warred against the humans, humans warred against other humans, and magical creatures warred against other magical creatures. There was no peace; in my desperation in seeking a way to quell the fighting, I lost myself. I began to see Morgan as a tool, rather than the young woman I had known and taught all those years. She was cast out as a child, thought to be a Changeling due to her abilities; she must have had an ancestor who was either Fey or Elven, and the power laid dormant in her family bloodline, until it reached her. She was 13 when I found her at the slave market, and though I had only a glance at her, I knew she would become a great sorceress with the right teachings."

"How old were you?" Jim asked. "You said that she was maybe even older than you, but if she was only 13..."

"When I said 'ancient,'" the old man explained in a slightly annoyed voice. "...I merely meant that she was likely the wiser of the two of us, even if she lost her perspective toward the end there. I was already well past a hundred at that time."

"Did you love her?" Jim asked, and he hated the involuntary childish tone in his voice.

"You and I are very different men, Jim," Merlin replied, heaving a heavy sigh. "You have no ulterior motives for the actions you take; however, we both would do whatever we could to protect those we cared about. Your selflessness is the reason Ywain chose you, and I concur with his assessment."

Jim's heart twisted at the reminder of the innocent soul that fueled his Amulet; in response, the object warmed slightly in his pocket, as if to try and reassure him. "But… did you love her?"

"I thought I did," Merlin admitted, his gaze meeting Jim's. He could see the regret in the old man's eyes, but also the acceptance. "Though obviously not as deeply as I had thought. I… it was completely idiotic of me, but I thought she would understand."

Jim sucked in an astonished breath, shaking his head slightly in denial. " _Understand_?!"

"As I said," the wizard ignored Jim's outrage, his mouth twisting into an uncomfortable pout. "I don't ask for your understanding or forgiveness in this… but, also, as I said: how many lives have been saved in the place of the soul of one child?"

"But he was your son," Jim protested, his throat tight in emotion. He pulled his hand back out of the old man's loose grasp, but stood tall and stared Merlin down, daring — perhaps begging — for him to give Jim the truth. "How could you hurt the woman you loved like that? How could you sacrifice your own child?"

"We are very different men," Merlin repeated, folding his hands behind his back and squaring his shoulders, though his gaze remained fixated on the bubbling potion below them. "Let me ask _you_ a question: why did you and the Fair Claire decide to have a child?"

Jim hesitated, unsure how to answer the question. On the surface, he could blame his new and unfamiliar instincts at the time for making him a horny mess, but it wasn't like he had pushed himself on Claire. They _had_ talked it over before going through with it, and they had both desired the same thing. "We wanted our own family. We… we love the trolls, and we consider them family, but… well, we wanted to create a life for ourselves."

Merlin nodded, as if Jim had given him the answer that he had been expecting. "I could not afford to think that way — not when I had a greater goal in mind. Morgan's unique magical traits combined with my own would produce the magical anchor needed to bind the power of Daylight to a physical object, like the Amulet. I…" the old man looked up again, and Jim held back a gasp at the water building in the wizard's eyes. "It won't mean much, I know, but… he didn't feel any pain; he'd only taken a single breath outside of the womb before I… well, it was quick and painless."

Jim was glad that Merlin wasn't asking for him to understand the wizard's actions, because he would never be able to. The very concept of forcing himself on Claire — on _anyone_ — with the intent of creating a life that he then intended to sacrifice was so far beyond his comprehension that it was absurd. It seemed like something from a badly written horror film; while he couldn't bring himself to forgive Merlin's actions, Jim also recognized that the old man was not the same person as he was then. Then again, he _had_ manipulated Jim's decision to become a troll — ultimately, the better decision, but Merlin had used Jim's fears and worries against him to get the response that he had desired.

"Are you ready?"

"Wha…?" Jim blinked, the wizard's voice breaking into his thoughts once again.

"The potion," Merlin said in a quiet and patient voice, gesturing down to the bubbling black liquid. "It's ready. Now, we only need to find a lake or pool of water."

Jim snorted, his heart leaping in his chest. "Why do all of your potions require people to jump into water?"

"Not all of them," the wizard clarified, bending to turn the hotplate off and hefting the pot up by its handles. "But for certain spells — especially those that facilitate change — water helps the transition along."

Jim remained silent, following the old man back up out of the basement. When they emerged on the upper level again, the others had left the floor, Human Jim and Toby hanging out in the kitchen with Blinky and AAARRRGGHH!, while the two Claires were in the living room again, speaking quietly to each other. Jim's heart twisted in his chest as saw his Claire gently brushing back the younger girl's hair, Younger Claire's hand resting gently on her older self's belly.

"Well, these en-chee-ladas, as you call them, smell quite a bit more appetizing than our magical concoction here," Merlin said in a bright voice, his tone giving nothing away as to the darkness behind the conversation he and Jim had just had.

"Ah," Jim stumbled slightly on the last step, a memory coming unbidden into his mind, and he started laughing almost hysterically.

"Uh, Jimbo?" Toby questioned, an eyebrow raised as he and Human Jim eyed him in amused concern. "Are you suffering the effects of blood loss over there?"

"N-no," Jim said, holding his stomach as he doubled over in an attempt to stem his laughter and catch his breath. "It's just... the enchiladas."

"Um..." Blinky hummed, exchanging a concerned glance with AAARRRGGHH!. "Master Jim... perhaps the lack of sleep _is_ getting to you..."

"No," Jim repeated, shaking his head, his laughter falling back into muted chuckles. "The morning that we got back from finding Merlin — or, I guess, the morning that I _thought_ it was... Mom had just come back from..." Jim laughed, shaking his head again. "Well, she never said, but I think she was with Strickler most of the night—"

" _What_?!" Human Jim yelped, a horrified expression twisting his face. Jim felt Claire come up beside him, and she laughed at the look on the younger boy's face.

"It's fine," Jim chuckled, taking Claire's hand in his and giving it a light squeeze. She leaned her body into his, her head leaning tiredly against his upper arm. "...but when she and Strickler came home, I offered to make breakfast, and—"

"The enchiladas!" Claire gasped, catching on and also beginning to laugh. "Jim found a pan of half baked enchiladas in the oven and none of us could remember anyone making them!"

"Time is looped," AAARRRGGHH! assessed in his simple way, an amused grin on his broad face. "All happen before and will happen again."

"Exactly," Merlin affirmed in a soft voice, a gentle, yet sad smile gracing his lips. Jim sobered a little at the reminder, especially since he knew that the old man would remember everything, including the revelations of his own past misdeeds.

"How are we supposed to forget all of this, though?" Younger Claire asked, moving to stand next to her boyfriend in a similar stance as their older selves. "I mean... it's _so much_."

"Time will fix itself," Merlin assured them with another nod of his head. "There may be bits and pieces that could come through in your dreams, but they will be so abstract that you would never imagine such things as actual memories."

"So... _we_ don't have to drink anything like that nasty lookin' potion, right?" Toby asked, his nose scrunching up as he took in the scent rising from the pot in Merlin's arms. Jim noted that it was an odd combination between rotten eggs and mildew, and he was grateful that they actually _wouldn't_ have to drink it; Claire was looking a little green as she took in the scent as well. "'cause I don't think my health insurance will cover that emergency room visit."

"Nonsense," Merlin replied, and Jim almost started laughing again at the clipped tone, recognizing the old man's attempt at keeping his ego in check. "This type of potion is not meant to be ingested; rather, it is meant to be dispersed in water and the subject — or, subject _s_ , in this case — must then submerge themselves in the brew."

"That sounds rather dubious and vague, Merlin," Blinky said with a frown, his voice concerned. "All of this being in theory, how can we even be sure that this will actually work correctly in practice? Deya forbid that they end up being thrown even further back in Time or be tossed past their own place in Time and to somewhen beyond."

"Head hurts," AAARRRGGHH! grumbled once again, and Jim chuckled, though he concurred with his giant troll brother's assessment.

"I do see your point, Blinkous," the wizard nodded, and Jim and Claire looked at each other in surprise, neither of them ever remembering a time when Merlin had submitted to someone else's concerns. The old man had always seemed to get a perverse pleasure in being as obstinate as possible to everyone, but Blinky especially. "...however, I have little concern in this case. The fact that Jim and Claire are capable of remembering bits and pieces of things that did not make sense to them at the time, but now click together in the broadened perspective, is a testament to the very nature of their Time traveling incident. I would bet my staff — well, if I had my stuff, anyway — that this potion will work as we intend."

"Hm..." Blinky hummed, the sound somewhat skeptical, but otherwise remained silent, the fingers on his upper right hand rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Now," Merlin went on after it became clear that no one was going to offer up any more questions, concerns, or arguments. "Someone point us in the direction of the nearest pool of water, and we can get everything back to the way it's supposed to be, before you can say 'Arthur's saggy, left—'"

"Please no say," AAARRRGGHH! begged the wizard with a pleading look, pulling the laughing kids into his arms almost protectively — as if his embrace could save them from hearing Merlin's unique brand of cursing.

"The sun," Claire interjected, her tone and expression worried as she hugged herself closer to Jim. "The sun's already halfway up the horizon."

"Ooh, ooh!" Toby jumped up in down in AAARRRGGHH!'s loose embrace, raising his hand in the air like a child hoping to be picked to answer the teacher's question. "The Johnson's house faces East, and they have a pool in their back yard! It's definitely still in the shade this early in the morning, and they're only three houses over. You might have to take a longer way around, Jim, but you can find a way to stay in the shade on the way over."

"Yeah," Jim nodded, agreeing. The woods that bordered his backyard also bordered the Johnson's backyard, so he could easily slip through the trees unnoticed and with relative safety from the rising sun. Squeezing his hand around his wife's again, he looked down to her as she looked up to him. "Let's go, then."

Almost immediately, they were swamped with hugs, particularly from the two trolls in the room, and they laughed and cried out surprise when AAARRRGGHH! hefted them all up in his arms, squeezing them lightly. Merlin had sidestepped the oncoming hug-a-thon and was standing by the backdoor, a slightly impatient expression on his face.

"Oh, do hurry up," the old man finally sighed after a minute. "It's not as if you won't all see each other again in 5 minutes, anyway."

"Well, yeah," Toby said, clinging tightly to Claire as she laughed and hugged him back. "...but it's not _exactly_ the same. I mean, look! I'll have to wait a whole two or three months before I get to be Uncle Toby again."

Jim laughed, rolling his eyes. "Will you be that enthusiastic whenever we need a babysitter?"

"Ha!" Tobes guffawed, giving Jim a sarcastic look. "I know you two; I'm not going to be able to pry the kid away from either of you until she's at least a year old."

"Maybe two," Claire teased, though there was a spark of actual possessiveness in her voice that made Jim laugh again.

"Say _what_?" Toby replied, only half teasing. "Whatchu got that I don't, missy?"

"Boobs," Jim said, snorting a laugh when Claire elbowed him in the gut. He looked to her, smirking at the disapprovingly amused expression on her face. "C'mon, _I_ know _you_ ; you'll have her still nursing for as long as she wants."

"Yes, yes, the woman has lovely breasts," Merlin interrupted the laughter with further impatience. "Let us move on now, please. Do not forget that there is a rampaging, evil troll and his army under our feet, sucking more life force from the Heartstone with every passing moment."

"Wait!" Human Jim said in a slightly panicked voice as Jim and Claire pulled away from the others and started toward the backdoor. He grabbed Jim's arm, tugging him back slightly. "Wh-what do I do?"

"Just... fight," Jim replied, giving the poor boy as reassuring of a smile as he could manage. He remembered all too well the fear and apprehension that had filled him before facing down Gunmar.

"But what do I _do_?" the boy begged, and Jim wouldn't be surprised if even the humans could hear his heart pounding.

Before Jim could respond, he felt Claire briefly squeeze his hand and then let go and took a step forward. Instead of addressing the boy, she turned to her own younger self instead. "Permission to move in on your boyfriend?"

"Um..." Younger Claire laughed in confusion, giggling slightly harder at the reddening face of said boyfriend. "...sure?"

Claire smiled and then gave Jim a reassuring glance before she reached forward to grasp Human Jim's upper arms gently in her hands. Swiftly, she pulled the stunned boy closer to her and planted a firm, yet chaste kiss right on his mouth. Jim glanced away, amused and a little uncomfortable at the same time. His younger self was too stunned to respond to the affection, however, which was probably what Claire had been hoping for; almost as soon as their lips touched, she was pulling away again, leaning forward to whisper softly in his ear.

"Just follow your instincts," she said, so low that Toby, Younger Claire, or Merlin would be able to hear. Jim could hear her, and Blinky and AAARRRGGHH! could likely hear everything as well, but were kind enough to pretend to be highly interested in his mother's copy of _Wondrous Waffles — 1,000 Waffle Recipes From Around the World_. "You'll know what to do. And..." her voice dropped even lower, and if his hearing wasn't so good already, Jim would have been able to guess what was being said by the reddened face on his younger self alone. "...I promise to give you the best reward you can imagine. Let me be on top the first time, though."

Human Jim made a choked sound in the back of his throat, his eyes wide, and Claire laughed. She pulled back and pecked another quick kiss to the stunned boy's slightly opened mouth, and then stepped back, taking Jim's hand in hers again.

"Um..." Human Jim said in a high and scratchy voice — something that Toby seemed to be finding completely hilarious. "Right. Okay. Sure. Sounds good."

"Oh, it'll definitely be good," Claire teased in a light voice, and Jim snorted a laugh at the awkwardly pleased, yet embarrassed look on his younger self's face.

"I'm with Merlin," Jim said, smirking and shaking his head. "Let's get out of here before we permanently mess up Time."

Claire grinned, laughing at Human Jim's still stunned expression and then turned, tugging Jim along behind her as they followed Merlin out into the backyard, leaving the past quite literally behind them. Merlin seemed to struggle with the weight of the stock pot in his arms for a moment, his armor making it difficult to hold the pot steady; Jim chuckled, dropping his mate's hand and offering his arms up to take the concoction from the old man. Merlin only considered the offer for less than a second before unceremoniously shoving the pot into Jim's arms.

"Thank you, lad," Merlin said with a firm nod, and Jim took the potions and the gratitude with a chuckle. It wasn't often that the wizard was humble in any way, so it was kind of nice when he was — even if it was likely just a result of lingering guilt. "Now, where are these Johnson people's hut?"

"Their _house_ ," Claire said with a small laugh of her own, though Jim didn't miss the way that she stayed a step behind him as they walked, always keeping his body between hers and Merlin's. "...is three houses over that way." She pointed to the left, past the boulders that decorated Jim's backyard. "We can stay within the tree line; the Johnsons both work early morning shifts, so they shouldn't be home right now."

"Fascinating, truly."

"I was wondering where your sarcasm had disappeared to," Jim replied, rolling his eyes. He held the gate open for Claire to pass through and then followed after her, closing it securely. He spoke casually, but he needed no reminders about the danger that could be waiting at any turn, and he kept every one of his senses on high alert. "I was starting to miss it."

"I've found that the older one gets," the wizard began, only glancing back toward them once. "...the less one cares about the opinions of others; or, rather, the less one can afford to care. You're lucky, in that way."

"What do you mean?" Claire asked with a frown, sharing a concerned glance with Jim.

Merlin sighed, the sound a little wistful, though he kept his gaze forward and his shoulders squared. "You will both live the centuries in equal measure; practical immortality is not as lonely when you have someone you love to share it with." Before either of them could respond to the unexpected confession, the old man's bitter brand of sarcasm made a comeback. "Not that I would care, of course. Emotional attachments aren't my style."

"Seriously?" Claire groused, frustration and slight anger burning along their bond. "Every time I think you might actually have a scrap of decency in you, you have to go and say something like that."

"Claire..." Jim sighed, conflicted, but Merlin merely waved the words off with a bored toss of his hand.

"You're quite correct, of course," Merlin said, pausing to glance questioningly between a gate along the fence line and Jim. "Is this it?"

"Yeah," Jim said in a quiet voice. "They usually leave the gate unlocked."

The wizard nodded, pushing the gate open with ease and then reeled back to catch himself against the fence. "Arthur's saggy left—!"

"Watch your step," Jim interrupted with a snicker, tucking the pot under one arm and reaching out with his free hand to grab Merlin by the upper arms and pull him back before _he_ was the one going for a swim. "The Johnsons don't follow building regulations very well."

"Something all the kids tend to take advantage of when the summer is at its hottest and the beach is at its fullest."

"Well, that can't be safe!" Merlin grumbled, edging his way along the fence and pool edge, toward the open patio on the other side. Jim followed after on slightly steadier feet, holding his arm out to Claire to help her along, her balance unsteady with the added weight of the baby. "What if a little one wandered in?"

"I thought you didn't care?" Claire said as they reached the patio, steam rising from the slightly warmer water in the cool morning air.

"I said that I could not afford to care," Merlin corrected with an indignant sniff. "Not that I didn't care at all."

"What's the difference?"

"The difference, my dear, is that caring is painful," the old man said, turning to finally meet Claire's gaze with a hard glare. "Unavoidable, but painful all the same. My only way of coping with that pain is to try and separate myself from it. As such, my attitude may represent itself negatively upon others."

"You put up a wall," Jim surmised, and he could feel Claire slump slightly next to him, though he could also feel her lingering anger.

"Whatever you want to call it," Merlin said, shrugging. He held his hands out for the pot, his gaze moving to fixate in the water below them. Jim handed it over without a word, not sure what to say or do in the face of this revelation. "Surely, the future me would be better suited for this conversation? He probably knows you better; perhaps that wall is cracked just a bit. _This_ me is still very new to this modern world, waking to be thrust back into battle once more..."

Claire made a slight noise of protest in the back of her throat, but Jim grabbed her hand in his, squeezing it lightly. When she looked up at him, he shook his head lightly, bringing her hand up to press a soft kiss to the back of her knuckles. "Let's go home."

Claire's expression flickered with several emotions, but after a moment she sighed, and smiled gently. "Yeah."

Merlin heaved a sigh and tipped the potion into the pool without any further conversation. Immediately, the black liquid dispersed in the clear water like a cloud of ink; however, after only a few seconds, the thick black, cloud shimmered and rippled, turning a deep amber color that seemed to glow in intensity and warmth. Beyond the color, Jim thought he could make out shapes, or maybe images, but it wasn't clear enough to really tell what was happening in the water.

"Here."

Jim and Claire looked up at the wizard's voice, surprised to see him handing over the Moonlight Bow and, to Jim's surprise, a Glamour Mask. Claire took the bow as it was held out to her, but Jim hesitated in taking the mask. "There's only one... we left it with Strickler."

"Well, then Blinkous will never miss this one that I found amongst his stash of Trollmarket contraband," Merlin replied with a mischievous grin. Jim blinked in surprise, carefully taking the mask from the old man and staring down at it in confused shock.

"But why...?"

"I..." Again, Merlin seemed to struggle with what he wanted to say, but barreled on anyway. "I realize that the physical changes that you undergo will take away many of the previous options that you had as a human. I imagine there are some things that would make life a little easier if you had the ability to at least appear human at times. Now," the old man stepped forward, and Claire took an automatic step back, gasping and reeling in the same manner as the wizard had as her heels caught the lip on the pool.

"Careful!" Jim gasped, turning and grasping her hand tighter in his. As he made to pull his mate forward to steady her balance again, Jim felt a hard push against his shoulder. Not expecting the movement, he stumbled forward, his foot missing the ledge, and he and Claire both gasped and cried out as they fell into amber water below.

"Enjoy your swim!"

 _To be continued..._

 ** _REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!_**


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

» _Hello, my loves. This chapter is a little on the short side, but the next one will be long. Three of the kittens didn't make it, unfortunately. :( They were just too sick, and the mother is too young, I believe. The remaining kitten - Jesus, because he has a cross on his back - is healthy and thriving, so I have hope for him. Enjoy the chapter below, my loves!_

 **Chapter Twenty-One**

Jim groaned, his head pounding. He could feel his horns scraping against a rough surface, and his body ached like he had been tossed over a cliff (a feeling that he, unfortunately, remembered from not so long ago). Gasping a breath, Jim expected to inhale water, but was grateful when clean, fresh air filled his lungs instead. Gasping again, he forced his eyes open, and was surprised to find himself staring up at a high cavern ceiling, inlaid with various glowing crystals. The largest and most pervasive of the crystals seemed to be a softly glowing amber that looked like—

"Heartstone."

Jim jerked his body up into a sitting position, staring up in wonder at the crystal that they had been perusing for the last 7 months. Beside him, Claire pushed herself up, clutching her head in pain, also gasping for breath as she followed his gaze to the ceiling.

"Are we... really...?" Claire groaned, clearly a little disorientated from being immersed in such intense magic. Jim remembered the same feeling from when he had awoken from his transformation, and while he was bearing the magic better this time around, he was definitely going to have a lasting headache.

"That bastard," Jim breathed in a fond voice as he fell back to the floor, his head lolling to the side in pain and exhaustion. "Why's he gotta manipulate everything?"

"At least we didn't get dumped off in the snow," Claire murmured, laying her body back down against his side, her head resting on his chest.

"The others," Jim gasped, struggling to sit up again, gently pushing his mate off of him. She was so exhausted and disoriented that she didn't resist his efforts, her body lying limp and prone on the cavern floor. "Even if we're back in the same point in Time, we're not in the same place. If we're in New Jersey, the pack is still with the Frost Giants, and—"

"Usurna," Claire surmised, and despite her weakened state, she pushed her body back up into a sitting position, holding her head in pain. "All of our stuff is with them; our phones, our money... how are we supposed to—"

"The mask..." Jim said, catching sight of the Glamour mask lying on the floor with the Moonlight Bow a few feet from them. "I'll have to go out and find the nearest town and find a phone."

"I..." Claire shook her head slightly, cringing, and Jim noted the green tinge in her cheeks, her face covered in a fine sheen of sweat. Groaning, she laid back down, her body curling into a fetal position. "I don't think I can go with you."

"It's warm in here," Jim noted, leaning over his mate to brush her hair back out of her face, frowning at the heat coming from her. "Will you be okay for a few hours?"

"No baddies?" she mumbled, her eyes flickering slightly.

Jim took in a breath, but everything about the cavern smelled pure and safe, the Heartstone giving off a protective and healing energy. "This place is huge; it's a system, I think — we seem to be in an alcove. I don't scent anyone else, or any _thing_ , either."

"Mm," Claire hummed in response, her face scrunching up into an uncomfortable pout. "Help me for a minute..."

Jim had barely pulled her hair out of the way when she turned and gasped, spitting up a small amount of vomit. She hadn't eaten much in the last few days (other than her odd meatloaf concoction), so he wasn't surprised that she wasn't bringing much up. "I don't want to leave you like this..."

"Go be the Trollhunter," Claire said after a moment of catching her breath. "I'll be fine for a few hours. You have to find Blinky and the others, and find out what happened with Usurna."

"Are you sure?" Jim asked, leaning forward to lovingly nuzzle into her neck, though he already knew the answer.

She brought a shaking hand up to cup his cheek, nuzzling him back and pressing a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth. "I'll be fine... the Heartstone feels nice, doesn't it? I never noticed before..."

Jim smiled slightly, helping Claire to lie back down. There was no way that the stone was comfortable — especially since she had spent the last couple of weeks sleeping in actual, soft beds — but she was so tired and ill that as long as she could lie down in a safe place, she would be fine. And she was right about the Heartstone; it was only in living without it for nearly a year and feeling it again now, that he could feel the difference and how much warmth and life it provided. Even before he'd become the Trollhunter, when he had been completely unaware of the existence of magical creatures or the Heartstone altogether, he had been under its influence, though he only just now realized it.

Claire was already half asleep by the time he'd let her go and sat up again, and Jim only paused a moment to brush her hair back off of her face, and then he turned and snatched the mask up and started to run. The Heartstone pervaded through the entire cavern system, protruding from the walls and ceilings in a way that their Heartstone never had. The Arcadia Heartstone was a baby compared to this one, and Jim wouldn't be surprised if the one in Arcadia was a shoot off of this one. Hadn't Blinky told him that the immigrant trolls had first lived in New Jersey, after all? So, would it be so far fetched to think that they had taken a chunk of the Mother Heartstone with them when they decided to move on? The earliest histories didn't even mention a Heartstone until the immigration to America.

Following the scent of cold, fresh air, Jim found the closest entrance with ease, though he and his mate had materialized fairly deep within the cavern system. He was grateful to note that the sky was dark when he broke the surface, and he would guess by the position of the crescent moon in the sky that it must have been in the very early hours of the morning. The ground was hard and frozen, covered in a thick blanket of snow, icicles glinting off of barren tree limbs in the limited moonlight. Huffing out a breath as he paused to take in his surroundings, a cloud of vapor formed in the air in front of him. Even as a troll, he could safely say that he had never been this cold in his life, and he shivered. Jim felt the Amulet pulse warmly in his pocket and, a second later, his armor materialized on his body of its own accord, warming him considerably.

"I guess you really do like me," Jim mumbled, sniffling back a shiver. The Amulet pulsed on his chest, warm and protective. "I wish I could have protected you, too."

The Amulet pulsed again, and Jim stumbled a bit in his run when, instead of just a vague emotional response, he heard soft words echoing in his head.

 _It's okay_.

"You..." it took Jim all of his mental strength to keep himself from coming to a standstill in his shock, focusing most of his mind on his senses as he tried to catch the scents associated with a human settlement. The remaining focus, however, was centering on a conversation with — for all intents and purposes — an inanimate object. "You can talk...?"

 _I learn more with each Trollhunter. I have never heard your "Spanish" before... I am still learning._

"Me too," Jim laughed a little, disorientated by the conversation and the unfamiliar sights, sounds, and scents.

 _You've picked up Trollish well enough; I look forward to learning a new language with you. Deya spoke several languages, human and magical. I learned much from her._

"That must have made for some interesting conversations," Jim replied, faltering a step as his nose caught the scent of what he thought was gasoline and stale bread.

 _...I have never spoken to anyone else._

"...never?" He replied, his heart twisting at the thought. The Amulet — Ywain — had been in existence for thousands of years, and in all that time, the soul inhabiting the Amulet had remained silent? That had to be one of the saddest things that Jim had ever heard.

 _I had no life. I loved and protected all of the Trollhunters, but I have never felt so connected to them as I do to you._

"Why...?" Jim wondered, trudging through the thickening snow toward some dim lights in the distance that he thought might be a convenience store. "Because I'm human? Or, uh, I _was_ human?"

 _Yes. No. Because your soul felt closest to my own. You felt... familiar. The protector that Merlin should have been, but was not. He and I both needed you._

"Ywain..." Jim sighed, a weird feeling in his chest as he addressed the actual soul inhabiting and empowering the Amulet. "...about your mother—"

 _It's okay. I understand. In death, she can finally find peace._

"Is she...?" Jim asked hesitantly, skidding to a halt at the edge of the tree line, glancing around the parking lot of the truck stop and the long, black road beyond. The parking lot and gas pumps were filled with cars and big rigs.

 _A physical body cannot withstand the pure darkness for more than a few days. Her body would have disintegrated by now._

"I'm sorry," he replied, his throat tight.

 _It's okay. I have very little emotional connection to either of my parents. It is nice to have someone care, though_.

"Ywain..." Jim said in a quiet voice, carefully hiding behind a large tree as a couple of truckers walked by. "I have to go in here to find a phone and call Blinky; I can't look like this; will you... will you still be able to speak with me, if I take the Amulet off?"

 _Are you worried about me, Trollhunter?_ the voice asked with an amused tone.

"Honestly? Yes," he replied, nervously fiddling with the mask in his hands.

 _I am bonded with your soul; I can still speak with you, if you wish it._ And with that, the Amulet pulsed once and then fell from Jim's chest, the armor dissipating, leaving Jim shivering in the cold again.

"Ywain?" Jim whispered nervously. He took a breath and then pressed the mask to his face, and in a flash of green light, he stood slightly deeper in the snow as he shrunk to the height of his human form. As always, he looked down to examine his hands first, flexing the fingers and breathing a sigh of relief at the familiarity of his own skin.

 _I am here. Go inside and find warmth._ The voice was a little stiff, an attitude starting to come through, which Jim almost laughed at. Thousands of years old, yet still having all of the petulance of a child. _If you are cold, I am cold._

Jim chuckled, but followed the order. He got a few strange looks as he hurried across the parking lot and into the large building on the other side. He figured that seeing a teenager who was wearing completely inappropriate clothing for a Northeastern winter running around a sketchy truck stop parking lot at 1 or 2 in the morning was reason enough for the strange looks, but he ignored them, brushing the snow from his hair. As the door swung closed behind him, Jim took a minute to take in his surroundings; despite it being the middle of the night, there seemed to be quite a bit of activity, gruff looking men and women chatting, getting food from a hot bar, sleeping in lounge chairs and couches... beyond the sights, the air in the building was warm and moist, and he was surprised to see a few people coming out and going into a hallway on the far side of the building, carrying towels, clothes, and bath caddies. Jim made a mental note to bring Claire back to the truck stop as soon as they could get the pack safe and settled; she would definitely appreciate having access to a hot shower in the middle of winter.

"Causin' trouble around here, boy?"

"Huh?" Jim's thoughts broke at the gruff voice, and he turned in its direction to see a very masculine looking woman in a patched and greased mechanic's suit staring him down from behind the register counter. "Oh, uh, no! Sorry... do you have any public phones?"

The woman frowned, giving him a once over with deep, brown eyes. Her hair was cut in a short bob, but was such a vibrant red that he couldn't help but be reminded of his mother. "You in some kind of trouble?"

"No, no!" He assured the woman, relaxing his stance and stepping forward to lean against the counter, trying to act casual. "I just need to use a phone. I... My friends and I are on a road trip across country, and I promised that I would call my mom when we stop for the nights."

"No cell?" she asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"Lost it," Jim lied, frowning in what he hoped looked like a sad expression. "We were hiking this morning, and it must have fallen out of my pocket."

"Your friends don't have cells?"

Jim wondered what kind of shit this woman had seen in her time here that made her so suspicious, but he was very close to losing it, stress and worry making him feel very short tempered, at the moment. "Please... I just need to use the phone, and then I'll leave."

"Hm..." the woman hummed to herself, eyeing him up and down again. To his surprise, she relaxed and gave him a soft smile. "In the bathing lounge, boychik."

"Thank you," Jim sighed, returning her smile with a grateful one of his own before turning to follow her gesturing hand in the direction of a semi-separated room that was littered with chairs, couches, coffee tables, books and magazines, and TVs on the walls. One guy was watching an episode of _Say Yes to the Dress_ while messily scarfing down a bucket of greasy, fried chicken. Across from him was a slightly younger looking man, sprawled across a couch, fast asleep. A woman was sleeping sideways in an arm chair, her head hanging back at an awkward angle, loud snores rattling through her nasal passages. A puff of steam followed after a man who had just walked out of the shower hall, his blonde hair slicked back with water and dripping slightly. As Jim watched the man cross the room to nudge the sleeping woman awake, his eyes caught the row of public phones hanging on the far wall, closest to another outdoor entrance, and he rushed as casually as he could toward the woman. The woman that he had spoken to had seemed to find Jim safe enough, but wouldn't put it past her to be keeping an eye on him, or even trying to listen in. Thankfully, national calls were free up to ten minutes, which would hopefully be enough time to ascertain the whereabouts and condition of his pack.

"C'mon, Blink…" Jim groaned under his breath after the phone had rung for the third time. A thousand different and horrible scenarios were running through his head — he couldn't remember exact try what time it had been before Usurna had shown up; had they been transported back to directly that same point in time? If they had, Blinky and the others were still in the midsts of trying to escape Niflheim. If they'd been returned to even a few minutes past that time, it was possible that Blinky and the whole pack could have been captured already, or killed, or—

"I do apologize, friend," Blinky's frazzled voice suddenly picked up on the other end of the line. "…but I can assure you that you most definitely have the wrong nu—"

"Blink!" Jim whisper shouted in relieved excitement, running a shaking hand through his hair. He wasn't sure he liked not having horns; he'd gotten to used top them at that point. "Blinky, are you okay? What—"

"Oh, Jim!" Blinky cried, his voice overwhelmingly relieved. "My boy, when Aksel went back for you and could only find the remains of a few random trolls… why, I feared for sure that you and Claire were—"

"We're fine," Jim promised, biting back the anxious whine that wanted to rip itself from his chest. Mask or no mask, his instincts and habits were still primary. "But it's complicated; I can explain lat—"

"Merlin has given us the gist, I believe," Blinky replied, much to Jim's surprise. "I must admit, while I have no recollection of what he has told us has happened, some missing logics from that time make better sense with this explanation."

Jim sighed, mostly relieved, but also slightly annoyed with the wizard. "Can Aksel and Merlin get you and the others out of Niflheim? Merlin can make a portal to a few miles back, right? You'll have to backtrack and go around, but—"

"Yes, that's what was done," Blinky said in a reassuring voice, and Jim lost his breath in surprise. "3 or 4 hours have since passed since Koenraad's betrayal, Usurna's arrival, and your disappearance. What Merlin could not tell us, however, is where you would come back to, though he assured us that it would not be Niflheim."

"Is he there?"

"Yes — wait."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line and then the sound of shuffling, rock rubbing against rock, the slight clanging of metal, and the the mutterings of a grumpy old man.

"Blasted thing. I really don't — but — well, yes — is that really necessary? Just tell him to come get us — well, of course not, but — Oh, fine, give it to me! …Um, greetings?"

"Merlin," Jim said, rolling his eyes. "I've told you a thousand times: a phone is not possessed or imbued with evil magic; it's just technology."

"Yes, well," Merlin huffed, clearly annoyed. "I am not a fan of this… technology."

"Where are you?"

"Still in that penny town place, I believe," the old man replied. "I created a portal to backtrack us by several miles, while Aksel stayed behind to distract any pursuers. Where are you, my boy?"

"I thought you would know?" Jim asked, frowning slightly. A glance over his shoulder revealed that the woman behind the counter had moved behind the register closest to where he stood, her head tilted slightly in his direction as she pretended to read an upside down magazine.

"Well, I made sure that the potion would not take you back to the exact same place," Merlin explained in a patient voice, no doubt hearing the anxiety in Jim's. "I didn't want to risk throwing you and the Lady Claire right back into a battle — especially given her fragile medical state."

"Thank you," Jim sighed, genuinely grateful for the old man's forward thinking. "But you didn't know where we would end up?"

"I must admit, no," the wizard's voice was anxious itself now; likely worried that they might have been separated by an extreme amount of distance.

"Well, whatever you did," Jim replied with a laugh. "…you got us exactly where we needed to be."

There was a pause on the other end as the old man digested what Jim was trying to tell him, and then there was unexpected emotional relief in his voice when he spoke again. "The Heartstone? Truly? I… I had found a chunk of living Heartstone among Blinkous's stash, and I thought to add it to the potion. I only meant for it to act as an enhancer, but I suppose it connected itself with its closest counterpart in our own time. I must say, that it quite the relief!"

"You have no idea," Jim laughed again, more relieved by the second, though his worries were far from abated. "What about Usurna? Do you know if she was killed in the magic explosion?"

"Unfortunately, I cannot say for certain," the old man said, and Jim could hear the frown in his voice. "Her remains were not among the ones found in the room."

"Damn it," Jim hissed, biting his lip to keep from snarling. The woman was getting far too interested in what little she could hear of his conversation, and was now not even pretending to read. "I can't stay on long; I'm in a public place. What did you use for the anchor to bind those portal charms that you gave mom and everyone?"

"You and Lady Claire, of course," Merlin replied, his bright tone suggesting that he was catching on to Jim's train of thought. "Separately, so that you didn't have to be in the same place for someone to reach one of you."

"And I'm guessing that you kept one for yourself?"

"Oh, a few," the old man chuckled, and Jim heard the shuffling of movement, the clanging of metal, and then the gentle chiming of small beads rattling. "Enough to get everyone here safely to your location in a matter of minutes."

"Thank Deya," Jim sighed, leaning his forehead against the wall, his whole body slumping in relief. Movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention and he glanced over to see the woman from behind the counter lifting the separator and beginning to walk in his direction. "Damn it, I have to go. Portal to Claire — she's inside the cavern system."

Jim hung up before the old man could respond, and he turned around just as the woman came up behind him, a concerned and slightly stern look on her face.

"I didn't mean to listen in," she started in an innocent tone, and Jim resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "…but if you and your friends are out in the woods, playing some kind of Dungeons and Dragons game, you should be careful. It ain't safe to be out there at night."

"Thank you," Jim replied, literally biting his tongue to keep himself from continuing that line with a sarcastic 'for not minding your own damn business.' "We're fine."

"Really, boychick," she said, frowning, and Jim was surprised to note the genuine fear in her voice. "Why don't you and your friends come spend the night here? It'll be safer."

"Thank you," Jim repeated, softening his voice and smiling softly at the woman. "We really are okay, I promise. Why… why are you so concerned?"

The woman chewed her lip briefly, giving him a once over as if to judge whether he had a strong enough constitution for what she was about to say. "…just don't want some innocent kids gettin' caught by the Jersey Devil."

"…the what?" Jim asked in a flat voice, half tempted to laugh.

"The Jersey Devil!" the woman repeated in a loud, shocked voice. To Jim's surprise, several of the half-asleep patrons jerked awake at the name, their faces pale and eyes wide.

"Damn it, Sylvie!" said the man who had been eating the fried chicken. "Don't go _invoking_ the fuckin' thing!"

"Oh, shut up, Frank!" Sylvie groused, glaring the man down. "And go take a shower! You smell like you _are_ a fried chicken."

"Fuck you," Frank said, but abided by the command, tossing his empty bucket down on the coffee table and grabbing up the shower caddy by his feet. He pointed to the TV on the wall, glaring Sylvie down. "Tell me which one she picks; my money is on the Lhuillier, but the Vera Wang is nice too."

Sylvie rolled her eyes, but nodded, shooing the man along before turning back to Jim. "Where you from, boychick?"

"California," Jim answered, trying to casually inch him way to the back door. Sylvie reached out and grasped his shoulder, halting his movements.

"How old are you?" she asked, her glare starting to harden.

"Eighteen," Jim lied, knowing that his looks might not even pass as sixteen. Why did he have to be so damn short as a human?

"And your friends? Anyone older?"

"Yes," Jim replied, trying to relax his body. The more tense he was, the more obvious his lies would be. "My dad and uncle are with us."

This seemed to appease Sylvie because a second later, her hand slid from his shoulder and she was smiling at him again. "Oh, good. Just be careful out there; you gotta worry about the snow and cold too."

"We're fine," Jim assured her, taking a step back toward the door. "Thank you."

Jim rushed out the door before Sylvie could stop him again, and then he was running. As soon as he was within the tree line, he pulled the mask from his face, breathing in relief as his body changed back into his troll form; it was disorienting, but he was amazed that he was so used to his troll form by now that he greatly preferred it, most of the time. The truck stop and main road were several miles away from the cavern entrance that he had used, but a more thorough mapping would be needed once everyone was settled; they were hidden safely enough from humans, it seemed, but if there were other entrances scattered around, they would need to be found and magically sealed.

 _You know_ , Ywain muttered into the silence, and Jim nearly jumped into a tree in surprise at the voice, having forgotten about the child. _There is something familiar about that woman's words…_

"The Jersey Devil?" Jim asked, pausing in his run as his nose caught the scent of a couple of small animals. Ywain remained quiet while Jim fell into the hunt, snatching up a couple of squirrels in a quick pounce. Claire hadn't gotten her enchiladas, after all, and he didn't have any money to buy her some food from the truck stop. One unlucky rabbit later, and Jim had deemed it a good hunt and continued in his run back toward the cavern system. "You don't really believe that, do you?"

 _Did you believe in trolls and magic two years ago?_

"Good point," Jim grumbled, rolling his eyes. "What about it seems familiar?"

 _Not the name she used, of course_ , Ywain said, a thoughtful tone in his voice. _But the concept of a threat out this way…_

"That could be anything, though," Jim argued, purposefully taking a deep breath through his nose. "I don't smell anything that might be magical or mythical; they tend to have a distinctive scent. There's bears out here, though — maybe they just attribute bear attacks to this monster thing?"

 _Hmm…_ _maybe_.

Before Jim could reply, he found himself back at the cave entrance and then practically trampled into the snow as a few bodies flew out of the entrance at him. In the front, Blinky grabbed Jim up in all of his arms, hugging him tightly as tears flowed from all of his six eyes.

"Oh, my boy!" Blinky sobbed, crushing Jim to his chest. "Oh, you've done it! You've found it! We're home!"

Jim laughed, hugging Blinky back just as tightly. He laughed harder when he felt two smaller trolls crawling up his back, NotEnrique crawling up onto his head to sit between his horns, while Nyrys crawled onto his shoulder, hugging his neck tightly. "You can actually thank Merlin for that one."

"Yes, of course," Blinky replied, leaning back with a chuckle. "…but we can let him stew for a bit, yes?"

"What's wrong with Sis?" NotEnrique interrupted in an anxious voice, shaking Jim's head by his horns. "She smells weird, and she's all green."

"I'll explain later," Jim promised the little troll, a jolt of anxious worry shooting through him. He pushed the feeling toward Claire, but she responded immediately with a feeling of weak reassurance. It didn't abate his worry, but he was slightly relieved that she was well enough to respond. "But the magic we were soaked in is really disorienting, so that's part of it. She needs food and rest."

"Mommy started a fire," Nyrys said into Jim's ear, cuddling closer into the crook of his neck. "She said Lady Claire will be okay, Enrique. You don't have to worry."

NotEnrique snorted, tugging on Jim's horns again. He winced against the slight pain that shot through his head at the sensation, but let the little imp be, understanding his concern. "C'mon, let's get back inside. The Heartstone will make everyone feel better."

"It's most beautiful, isn't it?" Blinky said in an awed voice, staring in wonder at the pervading Heartstone crystal as they made their way back inside the cavern system. The air became warmer the deeper they went in, and Jim felt himself relaxing, his headache easing under the healing powers of the amber crystal. "I wonder if this might be the Mother Heartstone?"

"I thought the same thing," Jim replied with a thoughtful frown, absentmindedly catching Nyrys as she slid from his shoulder, cuddling her to his chest. "Weren't you and Dictation with the first troll immigrants?"

"Sadly, no," his foster father replied, a regretful frown pulling at his features. "We remained in Wales for a number of decades after the first exodus, and when we finally crossed to the New World, we entered through South America to avoid getting caught up in what you humans now call the Revolutionary War. By then, the trolls had already moved across the country, seeking solitude from the humans."

"So, is there any chance that there could be trolls or other creatures still here?" Jim asked, his mind thrown back to what Sylvie had tried to warn him about.

"Well, of course, it's always a possibility," Blinky replied, rubbing his chin in thought with his upper right hand. They were moving deeper into the cavern system now and more trolls from the pack were starting to show up, excitedly chatting and already looking around for the perfect places to build homes. Cor — already digging out a side wall with his bare hands, Norie laughing at his enthusiasm as she nursed their baby — gave Jim an excited wave as they passed, and he chuckled, waving back. Blinky continued speaking, nodding to the trolls that they passed. "I have seen little evidence of inhabitation of this particular area, however."

"That's good," Jim sighed, relieved. "I was worried about the possibility of accidentally pushing another pack out or forcing us all together."

"I admit, that same worry had crossed my mind, as well," Blinky confided with a somber nod.

They turned a slight corner and quickly scaled a low rock wall, and then they were back in the same alcove where Jim and Claire had materialized. Jim felt his body relax as his mate came into view, seated in front of a low, quickly built fire pit in the middle of the room. Dagny sat on the floor behind her, towering over the human girl by several feet; she was gently brushing Claire's hair with a hairbrush that must have been pulled from the familiar pack on the floor in front of Claire. He didn't know who had thought to grab their things for them, but Jim was grateful all the same. Claire still looked pale, but she was sipping some kind of herbal tea from a rough earthenware cup in her hands, and the scent of illness on her was quickly dissipating. NotEnrique jumped down from Jim's head and scurried over to his sister, gently nuzzling into her side.

"Feeling a little better?" Jim asked, though he could already tell from her emotions and the look on her face that Claire wasn't feeling as sick as she was when she first woke up. He bent down to let Nyrys out of his arms and the whelp hurried over to her mother, crawling up to curl in between the woman's horns.

"Yeah," Claire sighed, giving Jim a loving smile. "Still a little dizzy and sick to my stomach, but I feel a lot better than I did."

"Good," Jim replied, moving to sit by his mate's side, laughing as he indulged Dagny's affectionate nuzzling and tight hug.

"Trollhunter, we were so worried!" Dagny said in a relieved and joyful voice. "I do not believe I have ever seen Blinkous so distraught before."

"I have complete faith in our Trollhunter," Blinky replied indignantly, his expression uncomfortably embarrassed.

"Aye," NotEnrique giggled, clinging to his sister as if to let go would make her disappear again. "But dads always worry about their kids!"

 _Not all dads_ , Jim thought to himself bitterly, but he shook the thought free as he took in the warmth all around him.

Finally, after so long, they were home.

 _To be continued..._

 **╬ _REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!_ ╬**


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

✎ _You can call this the Monster Drama Chapter, my loves; it's essentially my apology for the last few updates being so late. That being said, the next chapter will be a big one too, and a very important one, so stay tuned, my loves! Enjoy!_

 **Chapter Twenty-Two**

They worked hard over the next couple of weeks, though it was with more passion than Jim had ever seen in the other trolls before. Even the few trolls who had never particularly taken to him or Claire due to their humanity seemed to be in much higher spirits, and Jim was sure he had only received half as many glares from that lot than normal. Empty, cavernous rooms were beginning to take shape into familiar looking streets; Bagdwella worked extra hard to ensure that her shop was the first to open, which just so happened too be on Christmas Eve.

"I did't think trolls celebrated Christmas," Jim said, as he helped shuffle the last of Bagdwella's boxes full of charms, trinkets, and general trash into the alcove that she had built for herself. She was quite thrilled that it was half as much bigger than her old place.

"Oh, we don't," Bagdwella tittered in a jovial voice, bopping Jim on the nose as he stood from dumping the boxes on the floor. A few drunken gnomes were balancing on her washing line, singing a tune that sounded like _God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen_. "But you and Lady Claire do, yes? All the more reason to celebrate! In fact…" the usually annoying troll seemed to be acting extra sneaky about something. "I believe I've distracted you well enough by now."

"Distracted?" Jim repeated, jerking his head around as he heard a few snickers from the surrounding trolls. Among them, Cor gave him a mischievous wink.

"Yes, distracted," Bagdwella replied with a laugh, shoving a small wooden box into Jim's arms. "Now, I do believe that you should head home, Trollhunter."

"But you have four more boxes—"

"I lied!" Bagdwella said in an excited voice, pushing him out into the main pseudo street. "Go home! Merry Christmas!"

Jim laughed, confused, but allowed the bigger troll to push him away and in the direction of where he and Claire had started making their own home. Granted, it was mostly him doing the building, while she told him what she wanted, but it was a nice feeling to sort of officially settle down.

"Playin' house, boy?"

Jim came to a halt, mentally groaning at the sound of the gruff voice trailing after him. He was at the edge of the main area, only a minute away from his own cave. Christmas or not, there was always something or someone having to cause trouble. Jim figured it was just in troll nature to be obstinate.

"Hello, Gleb," Jim sighed, turning to face the giant, green troll who must have stood two heads taller than even AAARRRGGHH!. "How is your cave coming along? I thought I saw your oldest with a stack of nice cedar for the supports."

"Ah, he's a good lad," Gleb said, his tough act dropping for just a moment as he smiled at the reminder of his eldest son. Still, the troll was staunchly in the 'I want nothing to do with humans' crowd, so Jim was far from his most favorite person. In fact, whereas becoming a troll had strengthened his relationship with many of the trolls, Gleb was of a few that now saw him as nothing more than an 'impure.' It didn't help that Changelings and humans were both part of Jim's immediate family, either; to those who thought like Gleb, they believed that the connections would make Jim biased.

"I should—" Jim tried to politely disengage from the troll while he was distracted, but as he attempted to back up, he hit a large, orange wall that hadn't been there a few seconds ago. "Oh, Kalen… hi?"

"Where you goin', Trollhunter?" Kalen grunted, glaring down at Jim. He should have known that Gleb wouldn't have been brave enough to confront him on his own without the backup of his best friend. "Your lady can wait while we chat, yeah?"

"Is something wrong?" Jim asked, knowing exactly why the two had stopped him out on the fringes like they had, but trying to remain professional all the same. "Are you lacking materials? I can make a scrap run later tonight, if you—"

"No, no!" Gleb said in a falsely jovial voice, his grin somewhat menacing. "We only came to wish you a good… Christmas, is it? A big, red human steals into human households in the night and leaves gifts for good children, am I correct?"

"Uh…" Jim laughed, half amused, but mostly nervous. "Well, it's sort of a number of winter holidays rolled into one. That's the most common and modern legend."

"And what is the truth?" Kalen asked, gripping Jim's shoulder tightly enough to remind the Trollhunter that he was outnumbered and in a situation where her couldn't take up arms against his bullies.

"Well," Jim began, licking his lips in nervousness. "Uh… at its roots, it's a celebration of the Winter Solstice." This information seemed to surprise both of the trolls, who exchanged wide-eyed looks. Jim, catching the looks, continued on in a hopeful voice. "It's celebrated differently by different people and nations. For my family, we celebrate the Christian— oof! Oh, no!"

Kalen had shoved Jim, and he stumbled forward at the unexpected force, only to fall back when Gleb caught him and pressed him back with another rough shove. The box that Bagdwella had given to him fell from his hands with his loss of balance; the wood must have been quite thin, because the box smashed into a million pieces as it hit the stone floor. The tinkling of breaking porcelain followed, along with a few clockwork notes of a familiar tune. Jim saw red as he looked down at the broken remnants of what used to be a beautiful, antique music box. He had no idea where Bagdwella could have found such a thing, but it made him furious with the two trolls surrounding him, knowing that the woman had gone out of her way to find something that she knew he would find precious, and these two cretins had caused the item to become lost.

"Oh ho!" Kalen laughed, when Jim turned and shoved the troll back, ramming his horns instinctually into his gut. "Looks like the human has got some troll in him, after all!"

"What the hell is your problem?!" Jim growled, baring his teeth threateningly. "Haven't I done enough? I'm not even human, anymore!"

"Human enough," Gleb grunted, crossing his arms across his bare chest and glaring down at Jim. He took a purposeful step forward, grinding his foot down on the remains of the porcelain music box, and Jim snarled as he heard the twang of breaking gears. "You don't see none us breeding Impures with a human."

"My _daughter_ ," Jim growled furiously. "…is not _impure_. And my mate is the sorceress who defeated Morgana, or did you forget?"

"The only reason anyone here tolerates her presence," Kalen scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Bad enough having a human Trollhunter, then he gets turned into some kind of… troll-human _thing._ Now, we've got a human and her strange, hybrid whelp _living_ with us!"

"Then it's lucky for you that we decided to build our place on the outskirts,"Jim replied in a low voice, his hands trembling as they curled into fists at his sides. "No, if you don't have an issue that I can help with, may I go ho—"

A tremendous pain exploded across the back of his head, and then another hit was swung into his jaw. Jim hit the floor with the force of the punches, landing among the shattered remains of the ruined Christmas gift. He growled, but forced himself to not fight back, knowing that doing so would only make the situation worse. His head was jerked back by a horn and then twisted, and a second later, a vibrating splintering and cracking sound was echoing through his skull. Jim cried out in pain when a feeling like a hot knife sinking into his brain went through him, and it must have startled the two older trolls because they were gone just as quickly as they had snuck up on him.

Jim growled and snarled in pain, shaking his head; he was dizzy. They hadn't hit him hard enough to really knock him silly, had they? He felt a hot wetness sliding down the left side of his face, and wiped at it with the back of his hand. Bringing his hand forward to examine the liquid, he was shocked to see thick, red blood, and he frantically started feeling along his head for the wound that must have been hidden in his hair. In his hurry, his hand bumped the base of his left horn, and a throbbing, agonizing pain shot through his head, and his heart nearly stopped in his chest.

"No, no…" Jim muttered to himself, trying to shake the dizziness from himself, but was quickly realizing that doing so was a moot point; he wasn't dizzy — he was off balance. Carefully fingering the base of his horn, he felt his way up the growth, only to come to an abrupt halt an inch above his scalp when his fingers fell on a rough, splintered edge. Feeling the break, Jim cringed back in pain when his fingers encountered the hot, soft, spongy, and bleeding center. Kalen, Gleb — he didn't know which — had broken off Jim's left horn so low that they had broken into the marrow and blood supply. "Oh, Deya…"

Blood was pouring from the break, but Jim looked around frantically for the broken off piece of his horn; he didn't know if it was like a tooth, where it could be reattached, but he had to try. After a minute of frantic searching, Jim realized that the piece was not there, likely still in the fist of whoever had snapped it off. Pushing himself to his feet, he wobbled, trying to find his balance again, though his head was now leaning slightly to the heavier side. He was in pain and felt utterly humiliated, and he was glad no one else was around to witness him like this.

It took Jim much longer than necessary to find his way back to his and Claire's home; when he came upon the wooden pallet that he had fashioned to use as a front door to their home, he huffed a weak laugh at the cobbled together wreath that hung from it, pieces of plastic and brightly colored bottle caps and soda tabs dangling here and there. Pushing the door back, he was met with a surprising sight, and he understood why Bagdwella had said that she was distracting him. A pine tree stood in the center of their living room, decorated with more soda tabs and bottle caps, variously colored recyclables, and differently colored glowing crystals. The carved out shelves in the walls had been filled in with the last of their personal belongings — photos, knick-knacks, and charms that hadn't quite made it out of the bottom of their packs just yet were all put in their places. A warm jolt of familiarity shot through him as he started to recognize the home that the mother dragon had shown him in her vision.

"Jim, is that you?" Claire's voice called out from around a corner, the rock wall separating half of the room from the next, which they were using as a pseudo kitchen. In fact, something that smelled deliciously spicy was wafting through the air, and Jim's stomach grumbled. Mexican food seemed to be the only human food that he could still enjoy as a troll, and whatever his mate was trying to cook — trying, because learning to cook your favorite meals using nothing but a fire pit could be frustrating at first — smelled like the best food in the world. "Are you okay? You were upset about som— JIM!"

Jim cringed a little at the shrill, panicked voice of his mate as she came around the corner and spotted him. "I'm fine."

"You are _not_ ," Claire replied in a hard voice, rushing to his side and using the towel that she already had in her hands to press to the side of his head. "Sit down, so I can reach you and see how bad it is."

"…it's pretty bad," he warned her, frowning in pain as she led him to a pile of blankets in front of the tree and forced him to sit down. She kneeled by his side, patting the towel lightly against the break in his horn. He hissed in pain when she pressed against the soft center layer, and she made a distressed choking sound in the back of her throat.

"Who did this?" Claire asked in a flat, quiet voice. If he couldn't already feel her rage beginning to build, he would have known from the dangerous tone in her voice alone.

"Don't—"

"Jim, _who did this_?"

Jim sighed, bringing up his right hand to rub at his forehead, cringing in pain. "There's nothing you can do, Claire. I'll deal with it."

"Whoever this was _hurt_ you," Claire said, her hands shaking as she tried to stem the blood flowing from his broken horn.

"I've been hurt before," Jim reminded her, but he choked back a gasp at the pulse of unchecked fury that filled her.

"Not like this," she whispered, her voice hoarse. "Not by someone who is supposed to be our ally."

"I never said—"

"You think that I don't know?" Claire demanded, gently brushing some blood-soaked hair back from his forehead. "I may not know _who_ , but I know you would have fought back against anyone else."

Jim sighed, closing his eyes against the throbbing pain in his head. "I just wanted us to have a nice first Christmas together—"

"We will," Claire insisted, and he hissed in pain again as she began to gently wrap the towel around his horn in a makeshift bandage. "It will just be accompanied with a side of murder."

" _Claire_ ," Jim groaned, rolling his eyes beneath the lids at her flippant tone. "It's over. I don't think they meant to—"

" _They_?!" Claire shouted, and then cooed a soft apology under her breath when he jerked back at the sound. "I'm sorry, honey… but there was more than _one_?!"

"Gleb and Kalen," Jim admitted with a reluctant sigh, forcing his eyes open to meet Claire's wide-eyed and furious gaze. "…but I really don't think they meant to take it as far as they did."

"That doesn't make it right," she replied, wincing as she sat back on her heels. One of her blood smeared hands went to her lower back, rubbing firmly.

"I've gotta get us some real furniture," Jim murmured, leaning forward slightly to catching her lips with his.

Claire kissed him back softly, sighing as she allowed him to sidetrack her. "I'm fine. Although, an actual mattress might be nice."

Jim chuckled, choking back a pained gasp as the movement caused his head to pound again. "Ah… yeah… I promise."

Claire clucked under her tongue, nuzzling his neck gently. "No hurry… well," she laughed, grabbing his hands in hers and pressing them to her rounded stomach. "…maybe a little bit of a hurry."

"I won't let them hurt you _or_ her," Jim promised in a quiet, but firm voice, cupping her face with one hand while his other gently rubbed her belly.

"I know," Claire whispered back, a strange mixture of relief and frustration in her voice and emotions. "…but _you_ being hurt is just the same."

"No," Jim disagreed, shaking his head despite the pain. "Never. And it's just a horn, Claire."

Another choked sound escaped her throat, but whatever she was going to say died in her mouth as the sudden scent of something burning started filtering in from the other room. "Oh, _carajo_! The vegetables!"

Jim laughed as Claire struggled to her feet and ran off around the corner in a panic, more colorful swear words in various languages trailing after her.

. . .

A hard pounding noise was what woke Jim and Claire the next day, and a quick check of the clock on his phone told Jim that it was around noon. In the cave system, it was easier to fall out of any semblance of a rhythm when it came to time, so waking up at noon or midnight was a roll of the dice. Less commotion generally meant that it was daytime, as that was when most of the trolls spent time with their families or slept, so the continued frantic knocking at the door was more than a little startling.

"Wha…?" Claire gasped, jerking upright at the noise, still half-asleep, her hair sticking up at wild angles. "Who is it?"

Jim groaned and sat up, the room spinning as he tried to compensate for the lighter weight on one side of his head. The bleeding had stopped, thankfully, but the break was still raw and tender, protected only by the strip of towel that Claire had used to make a bandage. The pounding continued, and it took him a moment longer to realize that it was still coming from the door, rather than from the inside of his own head.

"Jim! Jim, my boy, we need you!"

"Blinky?" Jim groaned, forcing himself to stand from their nest and shake the remaining disorientation free from himself. Stumbling from their bedroom and into the living room, Jim wrenched open the door to be met with the frantic face of his foster father. "Blink, what—"

Jim's first clue that something was seriously wrong should have been when he saw that Blinky only paused for a moment as he took in Jim's disheveled and one-horned appearance, but did not seem overly surprised by it. "Jim, you have to come now; it's Ani and Gleb! They're going to kill each other!"

"What?" Jim gasped, the last of his grogginess dissipating in an instant. Behind him, Jim could feel Claire's presence, listening as she hastily threw her largest sweater on over the t-shirt that she had been wearing. "Where—?"

"The pub!" Blinky exclaimed, wringing all of his hands together in worry. "Hurry! Ani had Gleb pinned when I left, and—"

"Let's go," Jim interrupted, and the Amulet pulsed from where it rested in his pocket. A second later, his armor formed around him as he began to run after Blinky, who was leading the way. The power coursing through the suit gave him the extra energy he needed to stabilize himself; he knew Claire was following, but hoped that he could deescalate whatever drama was happening down at the pub before she got there.

Jim heard the shouting and jeering before they had even made it into the center of the new market, and when they turned the corner, whatever had been happening in the pub had spilled out into the streets. Ani, Gleb's eldest son, had his father pinned to the ground and was throwing punch after punch at the older troll's face. After a second, Gleb kicked out and Ani faltered, and then the boy was the one pinned while his father proceeded to beat the stone out of him. Puddles and splatters of purple blood were smeared across the rocks and the floor in a rough trail that lead back to the pub entrance and presumably inside. Ani, who was a head shorter than Jim and roughly the same build, jerked his head back and head butted his father in the forehead, knocking the older troll back again. Before the boy could pounce, Jim and Blinky had thrown themselves past the jeering crowd surrounding the fight and into the fray. Jim grabbed Ani under the arms, pulling him back with all his might, while Blinky struggled with Gleb. Cor jumped in after a few seconds and he and Blinky successfully managed to subdue Gleb, though it was obvious that he was still fuming, purple blood streaming from his nostrils.

"What are you _doing_?" Jim growled, giving Ani a rough shake. Though Ani was nearly 70 years older than Jim, they were only a few years apart in equivalency. Ani wasn't quite old enough to be considered an adult by the other trolls, but he was old enough to have his own mind and opinions, roughly 13 or 14 by human standards. Ani fought back against the hold briefly and then slumped in Jim's arms. "Why on earth are you—"

"He's shamed us!" Ani cried, bringing his hands up to clutch desperately at Jim's arms, his whole body trembling. "He's shamed us and humiliated our family!"

"Ani, don't—" Jim started, but the boy shook his head frantically, his thick, bulky horn knocking into Jim's right horn with the movement. He cringed back at the pain that reverberated in his head, but didn't say anything or let go.

" _Shamed_ you?" Gleb shouted from across the way, his face an odd mixture of purple and green. " _Shamed you_?! You don't know nothin', boy! How _dare_ you—"

"Why would you do something like that?!" Ani shouted back, shaking in fury. He couldn't seem to hold himself upright anymore and was slumping further down into Jim's arms. Jim kneeled on the ground with the boy, wiping away some of the purple blood seeping from his green, pointed ear. "Why would you shame us by treating our Trollhunter like _gnome shit_?!"

Jim cringed, glancing around nervously, but whatever had lead to this very public fight didn't seem to be startling to anyone else, which lead him to believe that his missing horn was very likely stabbed into a table or wall somewhere in the pub, like a trophy. The thought was both humiliating and infuriating. "Ani, please, you don't have to—"

"You have the right to retribution, Jim!" Ani almost pleaded with him, turning his head into Jim's armored chest, hiding the tears that were beginning to seep from his eyes. "Y-you have the right to—"

"You know I won't do that, Ani," Jim said in a quiet, but firm voice to the boy. It was slightly awkward, comforting someone who was so much older than him, but also still very young; but if anyone knew anything about disappointing fathers, it was Jim.

"Which makes you more honorable than any troll here," Ani said in a loud enough voice that several of the surrounding trolls bristled and made protests.

"Now, you listen here, you ungrateful whelp—"

"What ye know?! Disrespectful little—"

"—he say? How dare he—"

"A _human_? _Honorable_? Hah!"

"Shut up!" Claire's voice rung out, and Jim looked back to see her pushing her way through the crowd and coming up behind him. "Jim's done nothing but help _you_! How many of you would have given up what he has to help a human?"

"Claire, that's enough," Jim tried to calm her in a soft voice. Her gaze met his and then landed on Ani in Jim's arms, and her hard expression softened. She kneeled by their sides, and Jim felt a strong maternal feeling go through her as she reached forward to brush Ani's purple hair back from his face. Turning back to the crowd, he spoke in a louder voice. "Whatever this is, it's over. There's no reason to be fighting like this, especially between family members. We have to work together to make this place ours, now."

" _Ours_?" Kalen's voice rang out from the back of the crowd, closest to the pub, and when he stumbled forward, Jim could see clearly that he had consumed far too much Glug since the night before. "You ain't a _troll_! You claim _impures_ as your family! You _breed_ with a _human_! You ain't one of _us_!"

"Didn't we swear an oath to leave the humans be?" Ani sobbed, angrily trying to scrub his tears away with the back of his hand. "Didn't we swear that we would do what we could to protect them from Gunmar and his ilk?! What makes us any better than _him_ if we treat the man who defeated him and the woman who defeated Morgana as anything less than the heroes they are?! Human or not, they saved all of our lives, gave up everything and everyone they knew to keep us all safe and together across country, and found us a new home! And yet, you still dare to treat them like they don't _deserve_ to be a part of our pack?!"

A murmur went through the crowd and Jim tensed as Gleb slugged his way free from Blinky and Cor and stepped forward. Jim tightened his grip around Ani, ready to pull him away again, but the boy's father turned to Kalen instead, grabbing the orange troll by the shoulder and trying to pull him back toward the pub.

"Just leave 'im," Gleb grumbled, not quite daring to meet anyone's eyes, least of all his own son's. "Ain't worth the effort."

Kalen was drunk and riled, however, and shrugged out of his best friend's hold, snarling fiercely. "You gonna let your whelp humiliate you like that? Take the side of a stranger over his own father?! Hah!" Kalen took a step forward toward Jim, Claire, and Ani, and Jim jerked the boy up into a standing position and pulled him back, standing protectively in front of him. Ani struggled to push Jim out of the way, but Claire shushed him, using her magic to hold the boy's feet in place. "You say the Trollhunter should take retribution against your father, boy? Well, I say, after a show like that, retribution should be taken by Gleb on _you_ , Ani!"

"Kalen," Gleb said, his eyes wide as he began to panic. Several voices rose up to agree with Kalen, more shouts and jeers being thrown. "Kalen, it's not your place—"

"He beat the stone out of you, Gleb!"

"I wouldn't let _my_ whelp act like _that_!"

"Have you gone _soft_ , Gleb?!"

"Punish 'im!"

" _My_ father'd be the first to push me out in direct sunlight, if I'd done that to him!"

"Yeah! Push him out and be done with that ungrateful whelp!"

"Ye got more whelps to raise _right_! Stone 'im!"

Ani whimpered behind Jim, but held himself tall, glaring at the trolls who were trying to goad Gleb into action. Gleb, himself, looked like a cornered wild animal, panicked and ready to lash out.

"Are you all _mad_?" Blinky shouted, waving his hands in the air, infuriated. "We are not _barbarians_! What you are suggesting is _murder_!"

"Ain't _murder_ when the thing dying ain't worth savin'!" Kalen shouted, smacking Gleb across the back in a 'buck up' gesture, laughing crudely. "Get rid o' that trash, Gleb! You got more whelps where that 'un came from."

"Dad…" Ani whimpered, his body trembling in fear now. Jim stepped back, letting Ani curl against his back, hidden from the angry gaze of the trolls who were calling for the boy's death.

"Stop it!" Jim growled, Daylight materializing in his right palm. He kept the sword down, a show of strength, but not a direct threat… yet. "If anyone touches him—"

"You'll do what?" Gleb finally spoke up, his voice hoarse, but he glared Jim down. "You have a say with your own whelp, Trollhunter; _not_ mine. You got that?!" Gleb shouted, turning to the rest of the crowd, a hard glare directed at all of them, but especially Kalen. "None of you have a say when it comes to what I do or don't do with my whelps! I… I ain't got much love for the humans, but… my boy is right, and… what I did to Jim was wrong. Human, troll, wizard… it don't matter. We're all alive because of him, his mate, and their friends."

"Gleb—" Kalen growled, baring his teeth threateningly.

"No!" Gleb snarled back, giving his best friend a hard shove. Kalen, already drunk and wobbly, stumbled back and fell into a stack of crates with a splintering _crash_! "He's _my_ boy, and I ain't gonna condemn him for talkin' with more sense than some trolls five times his age!"

Jim tensed, raising his sword slightly as Gleb turned back to him and started marching in his direction. "Gleb, I'm telling you now—"

"Give me my boy, Jim," Gleb grunted, his eyes fixated on Daylight, too nervous to meet his gaze.

"…Ani?" Jim asked the boy, keeping his stance tense and his gaze locked on Gleb's looming figure.

"No," Ani said in a quiet voice, but not quiet enough that his father didn't hear him. Gleb's head jerked up, a combination of shock, fury, and pain crossing his expression.

"Ani, come with me," Gleb said, holding his hand out in the space between them. "It's all right; I ain't gonna let no one hurt you."

Ani shook his head, and Jim felt the boy hide further into his back. Nothing about his current demeanor would suggest that he had only just recently been attempting to turn his father's face into rubble. "No. I know my way home when I'm ready."

Gleb's face went through a range of emotions — shock, rage, humiliation, agony — before finally becoming resigned. Swallowing thickly, he let his hand drop to his side and averted his eyes again as he nodded. "You're right. I… I'll see you later, then." Gleb turned back to the gossiping crowd, squaring his shoulders and glaring at them. "You hear that?! Show's over! Go home!"

Gleb marched off and the crowd only hesitated for a few seconds before dispersing, many of them heading back into the pub. Jim briefly debated whether it was worth the attempt to go after his horn, but the feel of Ani trembling against his back kept him from moving, his sword still half raised in case Kalen — who had stumbled to his feet and was shouting Trollish curses at those who passed him — decided to continue the fight where Gleb left off.

"Ani, come home with us," Claire cooed to the boy in a motherly voice. She and Ani were about the same height, so she was able to easily wipe away some of the blood on the boy's face. Jim kept his back to them, tensing as Kalen's gaze landed on them, and he started toward them.

"No, I…" Ani tried to protest in a weak voice, letting Claire mother him even though he was 7 times her age. "You… you're festival is today."

"Festival?" Claire repeated, confused. "What… you mean Christmas? All the more reason to—"

"Don't think this is over," Kalen snarled, stopping a foot in front of Jim, his fists balled at his sides. His glare moved to Ani and Claire behind Jim, and his lip curled back to show off fangs that had been purposefully filed into sharper than average points. "Any of you." Kalen turned and started stumbling away only to turn back around, a hard glare fixed, not on Jim, but Claire. "You best hope your magic is up to scratch, witch. Gleb may have gotten a horn, but I'll take a different trophy, ever I get the chance."

Jim snarled viscously at the threat, baring his teeth and raising his sword. He knew he couldn't attack, though; not unless it was in defense, and words — unfortunately — were not a physical attack. "If you've got a problem with me, then you take it up with _me_. Leave my family alone — _all_ of my family."

Kalen gave a cruel chuckle and a sarcastic salute, and then turned back toward the pub, disappearing inside with unexpected speed.

"I… I just made everything worse, didn't I?" Ani said in a trembling voice. Jim allowed his armor to dissipate, and turned around toward his mate and the meek looking troll child.

Jim grinned slightly, trying to ease the tense atmosphere, and reached forward to ruffle Ani's purple hair. "Nah. Blinky told me once that it takes a long time to change troll minds, and I've learned through… _a lot_ of experience… that it's true."

"True or not, _some_ trolls are far too stubborn," Blinky's breathless voice broke into their conversation, and then he was there, grabbing Ani by the shoulders and giving the boy a rough, but firm shake. "Are you quite all right, lad?"

"Y-yeah… I guess," Ani mumbled, but he looked as far from 'all right' as one could get. He scrubbed at his tears again, staring at the floor. "He's going to stone me…"

"No, he won't, boy," Cor said, coming up to their group, his huge arms crossed across his wide, blue chest. "Your father got a lucky break last night, but he ain't a killer — especially not his own whelp."

"But Uncle Kalen—"

"Will have to go through me, Jim, Blinky, Cor, and a dozen others to get to you," Claire said in a firm voice, her magic flaring just enough to make her hair float briefly around her. She grabbed Ani's hands in hers and started tugging him back in the direction of their home. "Now, come on! Christmas only happens once a year, and this is our first one here! We have to make it a memorable one!"

"B-but…"

"Come on!"

Cor and Blinky laughed, giving Jim curious and humorous glances while they all watched Claire manhandle Ani all the way back to the outskirts of the Market.

"I see someone's mothering instinct is kicking in," Cor laughed, giving Jim a light-hearted punch against his shoulder. "Best be careful, Trollhunter, or you'll be adopting a teenager soon enough."

Jim shook his head, laughing. "Gleb would really kill me then."

"I daresay that Claire would come out the better in that match," Blinky said with a chuckle, clapping Jim on the shoulder. "Go on, before she designates a bedroom for him."

Jim laughed again, but abided the command and darted off after his mate. He caught up to them only a few feet from their home, Ani looking small and embarrassed as Claire pulled him along behind her.

"…I don't want to interrupt your festival, Lady Claire," Ani was saying, trying weakly to plant his feet in, but Claire was having none of it.

"You're not interrupting," Claire assured him, her eyes catching Jim's as she turned back to smile at Ani. "Jim, tell him that he's fine, will you?"

"But it's a lovers' festival, isn't it?" Ani asked, his green face mottling with patches of gray-ish purple as he blushed. "You should—"

"You're thinking of Valentine's Day," Jim laughed, grasping the boy by the shoulders and giving him a light shove toward the door. Claire had run on ahead, leaving the front door open for them. "This is Christmas; it's for families to gather and have fun together. We exchange gifts."

"But I don't have—" Ani began, stilling his feet once more, but Jim guided him forward again.

"We also eat a ton of food and just hang out with each other. That's a gift in its own right."

"…are your families coming by?" Ani asked, finally giving in and entering the front room of the cave that Jim had fashioned and carved out for his and Claire's home. The boy eyed the decorated tree with a weird look, cocking his head to the side.

Jim laughed at the confused expression, closing the door behind him and encouraging Ani to relax and make himself at home. "Yeah, a bit later; honestly, I should have been up and getting ready a few hours ago, but… well…"

"I'm _so_ sorry, Jim," Ani said, wringing his hands in front of himself and giving Jim a pleading look. "When I saw Dad in the pub, showing off your horn, I thought the worst! And I—"

"Don't," Jim said, holding up a hand to stem Ani's apology. "It's just a horn, Ani."

"But—"

"No," Jim insisted with a gentle smile. "It hurts like hell, but it will grow back."

"But a troll's horns are his pride!" Ani insisted, a shocked look on his face. His expression crumpled after a second, and he looked away, mumbling, "…at least, that's what my dad says."

Jim snorted a laugh. "Maybe for someone who's been a troll his whole life, but I haven't, remember?"

Ani nodded, his gaze remaining averted, but he still seemed upset. "…do you miss it?"

"What?" Jim asked, chuckling a little as the sound of Claire shuffling around in the kitchen reached his ears. He wasn't sure what she was planning on trying to cook, but Cor was right: her mothering instinct was kicking in _hard_. "Being human?"

Ani nodded. "Yeah."

Jim sighed and gestured for Ani to sit on the blankets piled on the floor as a makeshift couch, and Jim sat next to him, his knees pulled up to his chest. "Yes and no. It's not so much that I miss _being_ human, it's that I miss being able to do certain things that I can't do looking like a troll."

Ani frowned, his expression confused. "Like what?"

"Going out with Claire and my other human friends," Jim said, shrugging slightly. "Going to school, of all things."

"School?" Ani asked, cocking his head curiously to the side. "That place where humans send their young during the day?"

Jim laughed. "Yeah, but it's not just a place to stay. We learn things."

"Like what?" the boy questioned, his confusion increasing. "Your parents don't teach you what you're supposed to do?"

"Well, yeah," Jim replied, chuckling. "But our parents can be busy, so the people at the school teach us when our parents can't. They teach us things like math, science, and history — you know, things that we'll supposedly need to know when we're adults."

"But… you _are_ an adult," Ani replied, giving Jim a look that clearly said that he didn't understand human logic.

Jim laughed, shaking his head. "Not really. Other humans still think of us as kids."

Ani looked startled at this information, and he saw the boy glance in the direction of Claire in the other room, as if he could see her through the wall, and then look back to Jim. "But… you have a whelp…"

Jim snorted and shook his head, leaning forward slightly to whisper, "We're not supposed to."

It took Ani a minute to make the connection, but when he did, his face became that gray-ish purple color again as he blushed. "Oh."

"But I have a Glamour Mask now," Jim continued, snickering at the boy's embarrassment. "So, I can go out and do some of those things again. I still have to be careful about the sun, but at least I can go out without the humans seeing what I really am. Which is kind of what I'll have to do soon, anyway."

"Go out?" Ani asked, his eyes wide, like the concept was horrifying. "You're gonna go out and see other humans?"

"Claire's a human," Jim explained in a quiet voice, nodding his head in the direction of the kitchen. "And there's things that she needs that I can't get for her unless we get them from other humans."

"But you hunt for her," Ani said, frowning in thought. "What else do humans need?"

"A bed, for one," Jim chuckled. "Trolls have tough bodies, but humans are soft. Sleeping on the ground is really painful for her, especially now."

"And the whelp will be mostly human, so she'll need stuff too, I guess," Ani surmised, and Jim nodded, ruffling the boy's hair.

"Exactly," Jim said. "I've got some money saved away, and so does Claire. Blinky's given me some that he's collected over the centuries, which he assures me that he'll never use. So… we have what we need to get started, I just have to go out and get it."

" _Jim_ ," Claire's voice sing-songed from the next room, and then her head peeked around the corner, grinning when she saw the two of them sitting and chatting together. "Think you could reach the flour for me?"

Jim laughed, moving to stand. Ani scrambled to his own feet, eager to help. "What on earth are you trying to make?"

"Well, Barbara said she was bringing the turkey, if I could make the gravy and a casserole, but you've put Petunia Mach II up on the highest shelf," Claire said as Jim and Ani came into the kitchen behind her. She already had a low fire going in the fire pit, a large, cast iron pot hanging on a stand over the flames.

"Well, I can't help it if you're so short," Jim teased, reaching up effortlessly and plucking a bag of flour up of the top shelf. Their friends had been very generous thus far in helping them get settled, and Darci had brought over the flour and few other basic pantry necessities a couple of days before.

"We used to be the same height, mister," Claire teased, poking Jim's bare chest lightly.

Ani shuffled awkwardly as he watched them move about the room and each other with ease and familiarity. "Um… if I'm in the way—"

"No, no!" Claire said, darting forward and grabbing Ani's hands again. " _You_ have the most important job of all!"

"I… do?" Ani asked, shy and bewildered by Claire's mothering nature. Jim laughed again, watching them out of the corner of his eye as he set the flour down and grabbed some onion and garlic bulbs from another shelf.

"Yes!" Claire insisted, practically vibrating in excitement. "Blinky, AAARRRGGHH!, Dagny, Nyrys, and a few other trolls are coming — not to mention Jim, of course — and I have no idea what a troll would consider to be a delicious meal, so what _I_ need from _you_ is an expert opinion."

"Oh," Ani said, his expression brightening. "Um… well, my mom is pretty famous for her Mossy Mildew Stew."

To her credit, Claire's expression never faltered, though Jim could feel her disgust through their bond. "Ooh, do you know how to make it?"

"Y-yeah," Ani replied, a smile beginning to pull at his lips as Claire made him feel at home. "She taught me last summer, when my youngest sister was sick with Limestone Pox."

"Perfect!" Claire clapped her hands together excitedly. "Let's get you cleaned up and started then, hmm? Your ear is still bleeding a bit."

Claire dragged Ani over to a large tub that they filled with fresh water every day and proceeded to fussily clean the boy's face and hands, and Jim laughed as he watched them. Ani heard him and looked back with another blush and stuck his tongue out at Jim.

. . .

A few hours later, the air was filled with delicious scents, happy chatter, and laughter as people started popping up — quite literally, in certain cases — bearing different foods and gifts. Everyone took Ani's presence happily and made him feel welcome and at home, and Jim joked with himself that maybe Cor was right about adopting the boy. Claire certainly was showing him off to everyone like he was her proudest accomplishment.

"Jim!"

Jim turned around at the sound of his best friend's voice, but he was tackled from behind before he could even turn and catch sight of the redhead. "Hey, Tobes! Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas, indeed!" Toby replied, an unnatural excitement in his voice.

"…why are you talking like that?" Jim asked, laughing as Toby released him only to grab him by the arms try and shake him in excitement.

"I have the _best news ev_ — what happened to your horn?" Toby squealed, his voice high and excited, before stopping himself short as he caught sight of Jim's missing horn.

"Claire beat me up," Jim joked, giving Ani a wink as the boy tensed at the question. He was sticking close to Blinky's side across the room, but was still able to hear everything being said.

Toby laughed, catching the exchange and the blatant lie, and going along with it like a good best friend should. "You gotta watch those hormonal sorceresses; they're way dangerous."

Ani relaxed and looked back to Blinky as the older troll engaged him in quiet conversation again, and Jim smirked, shaking his head. "So, what's this _best news ever_?"

"Right!" Toby was practically jumping up and down again, his excitement palpable. "Da—"

" _Oh, my God!_ " Jim and Toby looked up, startled by Claire's high-pitched exclamation, and they saw her hugging Darci tightly and jumping up and down as best as she could, given her size.

"Uh…" Jim gave a confused laugh, glancing between the excited girls across the room and his best friend, whose excited expression had only dimmed a little bit. "Am I guessing that this is the same thing?"

"I guess," Toby shrugged, his cheeks turning a little red. "Should have known that Darce would tell Claire first."

"What's up? I can't imagine her father is letting you marry her before you've graduated," Jim chuckled, raising an eyebrow at Toby.

"That would be even better news," Toby admitted, nodding. "…but not yet. This is still pretty good, though."

"Well, are you going to make me guess?" Jim laughed lightly, crossing his arms across his chest and looking down at his best friend.

"Maybe I should," Toby snickered, grinning almost giddily. "How good is your sense of smell?"

"Uh…" Jim hesitated, eyeing Toby cautiously. "Pretty good… why?"

"Take a sniff in Darci's direction," Toby said, almost proudly, and Jim's heart froze at the suggestion.

"She's not—"

"No!" Toby exclaimed, blushing furiously, his voice becoming even more quiet. "We weren't _that_ irresponsible! Not that you and Claire were irresponsible," Toby added quickly as Jim gave the redhead an incredulous, raised eyebrow look. "I mean, you two already had a life together when you decided to have kids — we're still in school."

"What you and Darci do or don't do is up to you guys," Jim laughed, shrugging. "I'm more concerned about Detective Scott's reaction if anything happens."

"We were careful, I promise," Toby assured him, his ears glowing red. "But, _man_ , it was so good, I don't think I would care if—"

"No details, please," Jim groaned, laughing as he covered his face with a hand in embarrassment. "It's bad enough that I can smell you in her."

"I'm surprised you didn't smell _her_ on _me_ ," Toby wondered aloud in a curious voice, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Did you shower?" Jim asked, shaking his head in exasperation.

"Yeah…" Toby said, his voice dragging the word out in confusion. "But so did she, and you said you could smell me on _her_ —"

"No," Jim interrupted, laughing. "I said I could smell you _in_ her. You can wash scents off on the outside, but if you didn't use anything to, you know…" Jim trailed off, shrugging awkwardly as Toby's blush increased. "Anyway, she can't wash that away; the scent will linger for a few days, and the more you… well, eventually, your scent will just become a part of _her_ scent."

"Oh," Toby replied, seemingly surprised by the news. "I guess that explains why AAARRRGGHH!'s been giving us a weird side eye all day."

"Poor AAARRRGGHH!," Jim snickered, grunting as Toby elbowed him in the gut, not that it actually hurt. He straightened his stance as they spotted Claire and Darci heading in their direction. "Ah… maybe you should be careful for the next week, though."

"Huh?" Toby asked, somewhat distracted by the sight of his girlfriend coming closer. Jim rolled his eyes; to think this was the guy who had been completely disgusted with his and Claire's love sick looks to each other, and now he was doing the same thing. "Why?"

"Because she's about to start ovulating," Jim whispered, tapping his nose as Toby whipped around and gave him a slightly horrified look. "You're fine right now, just… be _more_ careful next time."

"Oh, look! Our little boy is all grown up," Claire teased as she and Darci walked up to them, not having caught the warning that Jim had just given. She hugged Toby tightly, pressing a kiss to his blushing cheek, and Jim laughed as Toby's complexion nearly glowed with redness.

"Ha ha, very funny," Toby said, rolling his eyes, but he hugged Claire back with just as much affection.

"Hi, Jim," Darci greeted him, and Jim was surprised to see her acting so shy when she had always been openly loving of both Claire, as well as himself, by extension.

"Hey, Darce," Jim smiled, relaxing his stance in an effort to make her feel more at ease. She was still tense, and Jim briefly wondered how recent this foray was, because she seemed to be uncomfortable. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, fine," Darci laughed nervously, her face darkening in a little bit of a blush.

"Toby," Claire said, grabbing Toby's hand and starting to pull him away. She sent Jim a feeling of concern while giving Darci a meaningful glance. "Come meet Ani; he's been such a big help today, and I think you and him would make great friends."

"What? Oh, yeah, sure," Toby replied, grinning. He gave Darci's hand a brief squeeze before happily letting Claire lead him away.

"Darci," Jim said in a quiet voice, not missing the way she relaxed slightly as Claire and Toby walked away. "Really, are you okay?"

"I…" Darci started, glancing around nervously. There was so much chatter around that the humans would never hear them and the trolls really didn't care abut what they heard. "I should ask Claire, I guess, but she's on Cloud Nine, so…"

"What is it?" Jim prompted, gently taking her hand in his and giving it a light squeeze. She seemed grateful for the gesture and smiled, returning the squeeze with a light one of her own.

"Did… was she…" Darci seemed to struggle with the words, her voice becoming so quiet that, had he not had super troll hearing, he would not have heard her. "Did Claire hurt… after…"

"The first time?" Jim asked, catching on to what she was trying to ask. He really didn't want to have this conversation, but it was a little frightening that Darci seemed to be really upset. "She was sore for a few days."

This was not what she wanted to hear, apparently, because she frowned, taking her hand from his and crossing her arms across her chest in an almost protective move. "Just sore?"

"Darci, are you hurt?" Jim questioned, his heart twisting in emotion.

"I… Toby was… _enthusiastic_ ," Darci admitted finally, wincing slightly as she shifted from one foot to the other. "And… I… maybe I wasn't as ready as I thought I was…"

A surge of protectiveness welled up in Jim, and he grew slightly angry at his best friend. Jim knew that Toby got overly excited about almost everything in his life, but he never would have imagined that the redhead wouldn't have paid attention to his girlfriend's feelings. "Do you want me to kill him?"

"What? No!" Darci gasped, startled. She laughed and relaxed a little, Jim's half-joking threat having the intended result. "No, I just… I didn't know if that was… normal, I guess."

"Okay, so…" Jim sighed, reaching up to rub the back of his neck slightly awkwardly. "If you ask Claire, she'll never admit it, but… I was _enthusiastic_ too. I, um… I made sure that she was, you know, _ready_ before, though…"

Darci's face crumpled, and Jim was startled by the look. "H-how…? I mean, you don't have to answer; I know it's personal. I just… it really hurt, and… I don't want to say anything to Toby…"

"Hey," Jim said, brushing a curl on her forehead back gently. Darci was Claire's sister in everything but blood, and she was his brother's mate, which meant that she was a sister to him as well. True, this was an awkward conversation, but if she trusted him enough to tell him these things, then that meant something important, and he wasn't going to be a jerk about it. "Tell me what happened, if that's okay? I mean, I don't want every detail, but being in that much pain shouldn't happen."

"I… I mean," Darci shrugged slightly, tears starting to gather in her eyes. "It was… last night, and… I don't know, we just… did it?"

"No warm up?" Jim asked quietly, frowning.

"Warm up?" Darci repeated, giving Jim a confused look. "I mean… we kissed a lot."

"Darci," Jim started, blushing himself as he realized that he was going to have to be blunt. "Did Toby do anything to help you get ready? Did he touch you or lick you?"

" _What_?" Darci gasped, blushing furiously. "Y-you mean…?" She trailed off, glancing down at herself and back up in embarrassment. Jim nodded. "N-no… we were both nervous, and I… I just thought since _he_ was ready, that I…"

"I'm gonna kill him," Jim growled, shooting a glare at his best friend across the room. Unfortunately, he wasn't looking.

"No!" Darci gasped, reaching out to grasp Jim's forearms, chewing her lip nervously. "I… I just don't think either of us _knew_ , you know… I mean, I only have my dad… and Toby only has Nana. It's not like either of us can talk to either of them about sex and stuff. And… well, I honestly don't know what you mean by _ready_. I love him, so…"

"You know, I tried everything I could to avoid having a conversation with Toby about mine and Claire's sex life, but…" Jim sighed, frowning apologetically. "Maybe I should have talked with him; I didn't think he wouldn't know…"

Darci shrugged. "I don't know either."

Jim sighed, pulling Darci into a light hug, and he cringed slightly when he realized that he could smell fresh blood from her with the movement. "Do you want me to talk to him?"

Darci sniffled into his chest, hugging him back. "…would you? I just… I don't know what went wrong on my end. He seemed fine…"

"You…" Jim tightened his hug briefly, pressing a light kiss to Darci's forehead. "I think you and Toby just sort of rushed things. You had to get home before your curfew, right?"

Darci nodded against his chest, her arms curled between them and gripping his shirt. "Yeah. Detective Dad would have had a coronary, if I came home a second later than exactly twenty-three hundred."

Jim laughed lightly. "So, you were probably in a hurry… and you don't really want to hurry that part."

"I guess not," Darci sniffled a weak laugh. She leaned back, and Jim let her escape his arms as she smiled up at him, clearly feeling a lot more at ease. "Thanks, Jim. This means a lot."

"No problem," Jim shrugged, giving the girl a reassuring smile. Embarrassing as it was going to be, he would rather have a completely mortifying conversation with his best friend than see Darci so upset and uncomfortable again.

"Darce, are you oka— ow, hey!"

Jim turned and snatched Toby by the arm as he and Claire walked back to them, and started dragging him into his and Claire's bedroom, leaving the girls behind. "Come on."

"Ow, hey, stop!" Toby complained, pawing weakly at Jim's hand. As soon as the curtain had fluttered closed behind him, he practically threw Toby away from him. His pudgy best friend stumbled, tripping over his feet, and then landed on his butt in the middle of Jim's and Claire's nest. Jim had to bite back a growl, but it would have been worse had Toby not been his best friend or if Claire had been actually _in_ said nest. "What the hell, man? Why are you trying to rip my arm off?"

"I should rip your dick off!" Jim snarled in a low enough voice that it wouldn't carry to the others in the next room.

"Wha…?" Toby looked up at him in shock. "What are you—"

"Just shut up and listen!"

The rest of the night passed uneventfully, though Jim had never seen his best friend so apologetic and mushy in all of his life. Toby really hadn't had any idea of what Darci was going through, and he had been horrified when Jim had told him. As embarrassing as it was, Jim gave Toby some advice for the next time, though Toby seemed doubly nervous about trying again anytime soon. Given that Darci's scent was becoming stronger by the second, Jim thought that was advisable, anyway. It was an even weirder concept to him that he was feeling so protective, in the first place, and he half wondered if maybe Claire's maternal instincts were sparking his _pa_ ternal instincts.

"We'll have to start planning a baby shower next," Barbara said at the end of the day, when people were beginning to leave for their own homes.

Ani, who had been helping Jim clean up, dropped a plate and it shattered on the floor, his expression horrified. "Why would anyone want to shower in babies?!"

Thankfully, the boy wasn't offended too much by the others' laughter once Jim had explained the concept of baby showers to him, even managing to laugh at himself.

. . .

"This will end badly."

"How so?" Claire asked, skipping down the side walk ahead of Jim, overly excited at the prospect of interacting with new humans and seeing a new city.

"Because it's the day after Christmas, and everyone is going to be hitting up the sales," Jim griped, unconsciously touching his face, still weirded out by being out in a crowd of people while wearing the Glamour Mask. "And what if the sun breaks through?"

"It's supposed to be snowing all day," Claire replied, rolling her eyes as she fell back to his side, taking his hand in hers. "You _did_ promise me a date, too, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah," Jim laughed, squeezing his wife's hand in his. "I guess we should make the most of it, since we're three hours from home, anyway. Why'd we have to go so far, again?"

"Oooh!" Claire squealed as they turned a corner and her intended destination came into view. "Because _this_ was the closest Starbucks that I could find!"

"We travelled all this way for Starbucks?" Jim laughed, letting Claire drag him into the building, shaking the snow from their hair.

"Well, I checked reviews for good furniture stores too," Claire replied with a grin as they helped each other out of their snow laden coats. "And Google said that there was a high rated baby boutique around here too. I looked at some of the pictures they had online, and they had the _cutest_ little outfits!"

Jim laughed, leading Claire over to an open loveseat in the far corner of the room. It was less crowded than he had thought it would be, which he was slightly grateful for. Only an older, balding man in a business suit with a laptop in front of him and a middle-aged woman FaceTime-ing loudly with a man about the same age were lounging around, while a few more people were in line, getting drinks and snacks to go.

"Chai tea and a Pumpkin Muffin?" Jim asked with an indulgent smile.

"You know me so well," Claire smiled, squeezing his hands lightly.

Jim smiled and went to stand in line to order, watching with amusement out of the corner of his eye as his wife snagged up a magazine from somewhere and drank in the pages like she hadn't read anything quite so good in ages. He felt a twinge of guilt that she had been so separated from other humans, or even human customs, in the last 7 months, that a simple magazine would make her so happy. Claire felt his emotion, of course, and looked up to shoot him a disapproving glare, and he grinned back weakly.

"Sir?" Jim's attention was brought back to the counter where the young, black haired girl behind the counter was waiting for him with a warm smile. "What may I get for you today?"

"Oh, uh… a small chai tea and a pumpkin muffin, please," Jim answered, blushing at his distraction. He blushed even more when he saw the shift in the girl's expression and the warmth in her smile increase.

"Of course," she replied, typing the items into the register. "Is there anything else I can get for you?"

"No, thank you," Jim replied, fumbling awkwardly as he tried to pull some cash from his pocket. His hands were smaller, and the right one had an extra finger that he was surprisingly unused to. "Ah, sorry!"

The girl giggled, moving to quickly catch the rolling coins as they fell onto the counter. "Oh, I've got 'em!"

"Thanks," Jim laughed, taking the change back to count back out to her. "Sorry. Guess I'm all thumbs today."

"No problem," the girl replied with a charming grin. "May I get a name?"

"Jim," he replied automatically, and then hurried to correct himself. "Well, I mean, it's Claire — it's _for_ Claire, but I'm—"

"Jim," she finished for him with another giggle. "I'll call you when it's ready."

"Thanks," he said with a small smile as he took back his change. The girl's overly affectionate smile was a little unnerving, and he nodded to her briefly before quickly returning to Claire's side.

"Was she flirting with you?" Claire asked with a mischievous snicker as Jim sat on the loveseat next to her, blushing furiously.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jim said, though he couldn't ignore the feeling of being watched.

"She keeps looking at you," Claire teased him, glancing over his shoulder and toward the counter. "She's got a crush on you!"

"Oh, shut up," Jim laughed, his ears burning with a blush. Claire's laugh intensified at the look on his face, but then cut off with a squeak and her own blush.

"Miss Ellie," Claire growled down at her belly with a frown, trying to stand to her feet. "Mommy's bladder is _not_ a sparring dummy!"

Jim laughed as he watched his wife waddle off to the bathroom at the back of the building, a slight wobble in the way she walked. When she had safely made it to the bathroom and the door closed behind her, Jim distracted himself by picking up the magazine that Claire had been reading. It was the typical gossip magazine, discussing the various Hollywood scandals and romances, but he found himself as equally entranced by the meaningless going ons of the rich and powerful.

"Jim?"

"Huh?" Jim looked up, having become engrossed in the torrid affair of two celebrities previously engaged to other people. The girl from behind the counter was standing by the loveseat, looking down at him with her charming smile, a steaming paper cup in once hand and a plate with a muffin on it in the other. "Oh, sorry! I guess I was distracted, and I didn't hear my name called."

"Oh, well," the girl smiled, blushing a little. "I… actually didn't call your name. I wanted an excuse to bring your sister's order by."

"My—?"

"I just…" the girl barreled on, placing the drink and muffin down on the coffee table in front of Jim. "…I think it's really sweet that you're taking your sister out for tea and shopping for Christmas. And, well, I was wondering, you know…" she trailed off, reaching into her apron and pulling out a slip of paper, which she then tried to hand to him. "Um… well, maybe when you have a night free, we could—"

"I d—" Jim tried to interrupt, feeling his face burning so hot that he wondered if the Glamour Mask might catch fire.

"I mean, it's just that you don't see many guys being so nice to their sisters," the girl went on, brushing a strand of her black hair back from her face and behind her ear. She glanced around shyly and then continued in a low voice, "...especially when she's found herself in such a condition. And…" Suddenly, the girl's expression paled dramatically, and she yanked back the offering hand with a horrified look on her face. "…and… and… and… she's not your sister… is she?"

Jim suppressed a laugh, shaking his head and biting his lip. "No."

"Cousin?" the girl asked in a hopeful voice.

"Sorry," Jim chuckled, shaking his head again.

"Girlfriend?" she asked in a defeated voice, an embarrassed smile beginning to form on her lips.

"Wife," Jim clarified, holding up his left hand to show off his wedding band. The girl groaned, pressing her hands to her face in embarrassment.

"May I start over?" she sighed, peeking shyly through her fingers. Jim chuckled, but nodded, and the girl lowered her hands with a meek smile. "Okay… Hello, my name is Sarah, and I am chronically bad at reading social cues; it's very nice to meet you."

"Hello, Sarah," Jim chuckled, taking her outstretched hand to shake lightly. "I'm Jim Lake; it's nice to meet you too."

Sarah snorted a laugh, a strange look coming over her face, but then her expression paled again as she gave him a once over. "Jim… short for James?"

"Is it ever short for anything else?" Jim replied, smirking slightly.

"No…" Sarah frowned, biting her lip. "Not that I've heard."

"James Lake, Jr., are you stepping out on me, mister?"

Sarah jumped at the playful voice and turned to catch sight of Claire giving Jim a playful grin, which he just laughed at, shaking his head again. "Never, mi amor."

Sarah's blush returned full force, and she tripped over her own feet as she tried to back away from them, mumbling apologies. "I'm _so_ sorry. I wasn't — I mean, _he_ wasn't—"

Claire laughed, placing a gentle hand on the young girl's shoulder to still her panic. "I know. He's hard to resist, isn't he?"

"Claire…" Jim mumbled, blushing and rolling his eyes. Sarah's own blush increased, and she mumbled another apology before disappearing back behind the counter. Jim gave a light laugh as Claire took her seat next to him. "I think you scared her."

"Well, she deserves to be a little scared," Claire sniffed indignantly, taking a large bite from her muffin and humming in delight. "Why is she trying to move in on a man who's out with his pregnant partner?"

"She thought you were my sister," Jim snickered, biting his lip against a harder laugh at the disgusted look that crossed his mate's face.

"Hmph," Claire grumbled, shooting a glare over his shoulder, toward the counter. Looking back, Jim noted that Sarah didn't appear to even be in the building anymore.

"I hope you didn't make her quit," Jim admonished lightly.

Claire laughed, shaking her head. "Nah. I bet it was the end of her shift, anyway. Why would she step away from the back to take the time to talk with a customer, if she was still on the clock?"

Jim chuckled, rolling his eyes, and then snatched Claire's phone up from where it rested on the loveseat cushion. "So, tell me where this boutique is."

"Ooh, here!"

Once they were out and about again, their first stop was the boutique, as promised. It was only a few blocks over from the Starbucks and a lineup of furniture stores were a block from that. Jim had to remind Claire several times that their money was designated mostly to the necessities at the moment, and she shouldn't buy out the whole boutique, no matter how cute the outfits were.

"But—"

"If you fill her closet now, what will everyone get her for the baby shower?"

"…okay, fine — but I'm still getting these two dresses!"

 _Three_ dresses, a onesie, and a pair of frilly booties later, Jim had $50 less in his wallet, but at least his mate was happy. The snow was coming down heavier as they rushed down the street, and they were laughing as they entered the nearest furniture store, brushing snow from each others' hair. Their lips were blue and freezing as they kissed, and they laughed harder when their lips almost stuck together from how dry they were.

"Hello, hello! I understand wanting to escape the snow for a bit, kids, but if you don't intend to buy anything, I can only give you a few minutes."

Jim and Claire pulled apart to turn toward the jovial voice. A pale faced heavyset older man, balding, and wearing a cream colored suit with bright red suspenders was smiling fondly at them, and Jim offered a smile in return.

"Actually, we're looking to get a mattress," Jim explained, helping Claire take her coat off and holding it over his arm with his own.

"Oh, well, that changes things!" the older man said, smiling widely, though Jim didn't miss the slightly disapproving once over that the man gave Claire as her rounded body came into view. "Any particular brand in mind?"

"Um… a soft one?" Claire asked with a shy laugh, taking Jim's hand in hers.

"Why, I do believe that we might have some of those," the old man chuckled with a charming salesman wink. He turned, gesturing for them to follow him. "My name is Frank — Furniture Frank! Yes, laugh, but it's a fitting moniker, wouldn't you say? And your names?"

"I'm Jim," Jim replied, shaking his head in amusement. The guy was so charming that he could probably sell ice to an Eskimo, no problem. "And this is Claire."

"Ah, Jim, you say?" Frank asked, and Jim raised an eyebrow at the slightly disappointed tone in the man's voice. "Curse my luck! First a Ted and now a Jim!"

"Um… sorry?" Jim replied, exchanging a confused look with his wife as they came to a halt in front of various bedroom displays.

"Oh, no, no!" Frank laughed, smiling kindly while waving off their confusion and concern. "It's just that we have a deal — us salesmen. When a customer comes in who happens to share a name with one of us, that salesman gets the sale."

"…and one of your salesmen is a James," Claire surmised with a laugh, squeezing Jim's hand lightly while Jim chuckled at the irony.

"Exactly," Frank nodded with a grim smile. "And earlier in the day, an Edward came in, so Ted got him. I'm batting zero today. Anyway…" Frank waved his arm around at the displays, his charming smile still in place. "…take a look around, feel free to lie down and see what feels best for you. I'll get James, the lucky bastard."

"Hmm…" Claire hummed as she walked between two display beds, running her hands lightly over the material. She sat on one, bouncing lightly. "We should probably get some plastic sheeting."

"What?" Jim replied, cocking his head to the side in confusion as he sat opposite her on the other mattress. "What for—?"

"Look," Claire said, tapping a tag on the end of the mattress that she was seated on. Jim looked at the price and was shocked at the three digit number staring back at him. Claire snorted a laugh. "Exactly! And no mattress will stand up to childbirth unscathed, no matter how much or little you pay for it, so a little bit of sturdy protection might be worth the investment."

"Good point," Jim laughed, running a shaky hand through his hair.

Claire smiled at him sweetly and moved to sit by his side on his mattress, leaning her head against his shoulder. "Mm… nervous?"

"Maybe just a little," Jim admitted, knowing that his mate could tell that he was more than 'just a little' nervous. "We're close now…."

"We have a couple more months," Claire assured him, slipping her hand into his and twining their fingers together. "And it will all be instinct, even on my end. Don't let your head get in the middle of it; we'll know what to do."

"Things go wrong, though," Jim said in a quiet voice, leaning his head on top of hers. "I keep thinking that I should just _know_ what to do. What if something goes wrong? And if something _does_ go wrong, I don't know if I would be able to let anyone else come close to you to help."

"Everything will be fine," Claire promised, squeezing his hand. "And I don't want anyone around me, but you, when I give birth. I was there when Mom had Enrique; all those people in and out and no one caring that she was naked, and weak, and in so much pain… it was terrifying. Even if you weren't…" she trailed off, her voice low as she glanced around for any listeners. "…well, even then, I would only want it to be us." Claire smiled again, nuzzling Jim's neck lovingly. "I want you to be the first to hold her."

Jim smiled, pressing a kiss into his wife's hair and squeezed her hand back gently. "In that ca—"

"Hello, kids! Frank tells me that we're looking for a mattress to…day…"

Jim and Claire both froze at the familiar voice, and Jim's heart started pounding fiercely in his chest. He whipped his head around to face the speaker in shock, biting back the snarl that was trying to rip itself from his chest. He came face to face with Frank, an oblivious smile on his face, and another man — tall and black haired with a pale complexion, a well-groomed short and scruffy beard adorning the aged, but familiar face.

"Jim…?" James breathed, his green eyes wide, his expression twisted and pained.

"Oh, wait!" Frank laughed, clearly not feeling the tension that had just built up in the room. "Don't tell me that you're family? It really isn't my day, at all! Families get discounts. Why didn't you tell me? What are we talking here? Nephew, I'm guessing?"

"Um…" James trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck in an awkward gesture reminiscent of what Jim sometimes did as well. The thought made him furious. "Frank, this is… this my son, a-and his… wife."

"Your son?" Frank repeated, frowning in deep confusion. "I thought you only had a daugh— oh."

Jim snorted an incredulous laugh and had to remind himself that, human as he looked in the moment, he was still mostly troll, and he could easily crush Claire's hand in his, if he wasn't mindful of his temper and strength. Deciding not to engage James at all, Jim stood and helped Claire to her feet, and then directed himself toward Frank.

"I'm so sorry for the inconvenience," Jim said, suppressing his anger to apologize to the other man. "But we'll go somewhere else. Thank you for your patience with us."

"Oh, uh…" Frank started, looking frantically between James and Jim, his expression pale.

"Jim, wait!" James said in a desperate voice, stepping forward with his hand outstretched. Jim jerked back out of his reach, but the movement put them in an essentially trapped position between James in front of them and the walled-in bedroom displays behind them — and being trapped was never a good thing when it came to trolls.

"Let us leave, please," Jim said, keeping his voice low and polite. He did not avert his eyes in any show of submission before the man, but if he could avoid a fight, that would be the preferable option. Claire, behind him, was trembling slightly, and he could feel her anger and fear (no doubt remembering James's threats to her the last time that they had spoken). " _Now_."

"Jim…" James pleaded, waving Frank off as best as he could while never letting his eyes break from Jim's. Frank was frozen for a few seconds and then got the picture, making as mad a dash for it as fast as his heavy body would allow. "Jim, please, just—"

"I thought we established that you have no say in what I do or don't do?" Jim interrupted, concentrating on the feel of Claire's warm, small hands — one clutched in his, while the other rested against the middle of his back, rubbing small circles — to keep his temper under control. "We had no idea that you were here, or we wouldn't have come. I'm sorry to mess up your day, or life, or whatever, so just let us go, and you'll never see us again."

"Jim, please, I was an ass, and I was wrong," James begged, his voice choked. He _did_ look genuinely guilt-ridden and apologetic, but Jim had no intention of falling for it, truth or not. He still did not move and Jim's feeling of claustrophobia increased. "Can we just talk, please?"

"No," Jim replied in a hard and firm voice, glaring the man down. "You had your chance, and you ruined it. _Let us leave_."

"Give me another chance," James begged, and Jim was surprised to see the wet glow beginning to build in the older man's eyes. "I am _so_ sorry for everything I put you and your mother through — and you, young lady." James's gaze wandered briefly to Claire, but back to Jim again when Claire's only response was to angle her body to keep her stomach from view, though James already knew that she was pregnant. "I have an explanation, and it's a trash one for you, I know, but please let me try and explain. After what you said the last time we spoke… God, Jim, I've been worried sick about you."

"We're fine," Jim said, shaking his head. "I don't need your pity or your worry—"

"It's _not_ pity!" James replied, his voice rough in anger as he made to step forward again, stilling when Jim took another step back to keep the distance between them the same. "I'm worried because I had no idea where you were, if you were with the wrong type of people, if you were in trouble… what if something had happened, and no one had any idea where you were or how to help or—"

"Mom always knew where we were and how to reach us," Jim assured the man, his glare still in place. "And thanks for thinking that I'm some kind of loser that would drag my family into a drug ring or something like that."

"That's _not_ what I meant!" James replied, groaning in frustration as he rubbed his hands across his face. Sighing, the man squared his shoulders, and spoke again. "You're my son, and I've been the world's worst father, I know, but _I_ _was wrong_. I don't know what else I can say to convince you! Please, just… let's all go for lunch, and I can explain, okay? I'll pay."

"And what?" Jim's temper finally snapped, and he shook Claire's hand free from his and took a step forward. It was less intimidating than he had hoped for, what with his human form being at least a head shorter than James, but his anger was palpable enough to have an affect, if James's step back was any indication. "We'll just pretend that you didn't walk out on Mom and me? That you didn't even bother to _call_ for 12 years? That just 6 months ago, you were telling me that we should get an _abortion_?!"

"No, that's not what I meant by it!" James replied in a frantic voice, waving his hands in front of himself in a defensive gesture. "I mean, _yes_ , I did tell you that, but I only meant that I thought it would be for the best for you right now, when you're so young!"

"You and Mom were _19_!" Jim replied incredulously, and with a bitter laugh. "Were you thinking about aborting me?"

" _You_ weren't an accident!" James said in a desperate voice, wringing his hands together. "Your mom and I were married and financially stable when you happened."

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe mine and Claire's kid wasn't an accident, either?" Jim asked, biting his tongue against the growl following the tail end of his question. _Human, human, human_ …

This seemed to genuinely shock James, and he hesitated a few seconds before responding in a calmer and more measured voice. "You… you said you dropped out of school…"

"And I told you that it had nothing to do with Claire getting pregnant," Jim replied, grasping Claire's hand in his again as the tension in the air eased by the barest degree. "Claire and I didn't decide to have a baby until a month after our last term of school."

"But your education is—"

"We both had enough credits to graduate early," Claire interrupted that time, finally adding her voice to the conversation. It was only a half lie; Jim had been well on his way to actually being held _back_ a year, and there was no way in all of heaven and hell that he would have _ever_ graduated early, even if he hadn't been the Trollhunter. Claire really did have her degree, though, so it was easier than Jim anticipated to go along with the slight lie. "We wanted to get married sooner rather than later, so we did. Jim was offered a really good job out this way, and we moved."

James's expression crumpled with a surprising amount of guilt, but Jim couldn't bring himself to care too much. The man was too different, too unknown to him now for him to be emotionally invested in whatever his father seemed to be going through. "Jim… I'm so, _so_ sorry. Please let me try to—"

If Jim had even been considering his father's plea with any measure of empathy or seriousness, it was completely dashed as another familiar voice interrupted them, female and agitated.

"Dad, I brought you some lunch, but I need to talk to y…"

Claire gave a distressed squeak behind Jim as Sarah, the young, black haired girl from the Starbucks, turned the corner with a paper bag clutched in her hands. She came to a skidding halt as she saw them, her expression pale and agitated, though the anger seemed more directed at James — her father — than Jim and Claire.

James glanced between his two children with a horrified expression on his face, his complexion almost gray in its paleness. "I can explain—"

"No need," Jim said, pulling Claire behind him as he shouldered his way past his father, Sarah stepping out of the way as they passed.

"Jim, wait!"

Jim kept walking, not even bothering to stop long enough to bother with their coats, and then they were back out in the snow — falling heavier now than even before — and were halfway back down the street before Jim had even realized that he was headed in the complete opposite direction of where they should be headed. Anger and confusion were building in him with such strength that he felt the same way that he had the night after he had become a troll; the feeling scared him, remembering the degree with which he had lost himself then, and he had no desire for a repeat performance, especially in front of Claire.

"Jim," Claire panted, tripping over her feet as she struggled to keep up with Jim's fast pace. "Jim, baby, I have to catch my breath, please."

Jim's heart lurched in guilt, and he came to a slow stop, turning to catch Claire as she leaned heavily into his side, panting and shivering. Hurriedly, he took her coat from where it had been draped over his arm and slid it over her shoulders, tugging it around her like a blanket. "I'm sorry, I just—"

"I know," Claire cooed, nuzzling her face into his neck. "I know."

"Jim! Jim, I need to—"

Jim snarled, turning toward Sarah as she ran up to them, shivering and panting as she tried to catch her breath. "You _knew_! The second that you heard my name, you _knew_ , and you didn't even say any—"

"Because _they_ don't know that I know!" Sarah exclaimed, steepling her hands in front of her face and breathing deeply, like she was praying for strength. "I _am_ really bad at reading social cues… but I'm pretty good at sneaking around my parent's stuff when they're away. They never told me about you; I only knew because I found documents with yours and your mom's names on them. I was just as shocked, believe me!"

"You still knew!" Jim practically shouted, tugging at his hair anxiously. Beneath the magic of the Glamour Mask, he could feel his broken horn aching in pain, and his whole head was beginning to pound. "You could have said—"

"And what would I tell you?" Sarah begged, her voice desperate, and then turning high-pitched as she mimicked herself. " _Oh, hi! I'm Sarah Lake, and I know I was totally just flirting with you, but ew! I think you might be my brother! Small world, huh? Still want that phone number_?"

Jim growled, but he could see her point; still, there was something that was bugging him, in particular. "How old are you?"

Sarah hesitated, glancing nervously at Claire as if the other woman would give her good advice, but Claire just tilted her head in Jim's direction, silently encouraging the girl to answer. Swallowing thickly, she responded in a quiet, almost guilty voice, "I'll be 17 in May."

"Oh, my god…" Jim breathed in shock, his chest tight and aching, like someone had just shoved a knife into it.

Sarah was only 5 months younger than Jim… which meant that James had not only messed around on Jim's mother, but he had done so _while_ she had been pregnant with Jim. And what did that mean for Sarah? James hadn't left until Jim was five, so did that mean Sarah didn't have a father until _she_ was five? Did James just swap families back and forth, like some kind of sick custody game? Barbara and Jim got the week, while Sarah and her mother got the weekends? Jim couldn't remember that far back; he couldn't remember his father disappearing for any significant amount of time. The man had worked in an auto shop, so it wasn't like he was called out of town on business trips. And there was no way Barbara could have ever known about Sarah, or she would have told Jim.

"I… I'm so sorry," Sarah said, sniffling a little, and Jim looked up in shock as the girl broke down in tears, covering her face with her hands as her shoulders shook with sobs. "I sh-should have…"

"No," Jim sighed, hesitantly placing a hand on Sarah's shoulder in a weak attempt at comfort. She seemed to have the same affectionate nature as Jim did and took his touch as some kind of permission, because in the next second, she had flung herself into his chest, sobbing loudly. Jim glared at Claire as she giggled a little, tears in her own eyes, and he sighed again, folding his arms around Sarah tightly. "It's not your fault that Dad's an asshole."

Sarah gave a watery laugh, clinging to him tighter, and he half wondered why she seemed to be so desperate for his forgiveness and affection. "He is, but… he was also protecting me."

"What?" Jim replied, frowning in confusion as he pushed Sarah back to see her face. It was wet, red and blotchy, tears and snot mixing together that she tried to wipe away with the back of her hand. It was then that Jim noticed that she was only wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Her long, black hair had become almost soaked through from the snow, and she was shivering desperately, her lips blue and trembling. Hurriedly, he pulled his own coat from his arm and wrapped it around her in the same manner that he had Claire, pulling the hood up over her head for good measure. "Come on, let's find someplace warm and dry."

They ended up in a mall food court and Jim bought them all some tacos from the Mexican Food vendor. It was crap in comparison to what they could get in California, but Mexican food was still the only human food that he could somewhat enjoy, so his sister — his _sister_! — wouldn't wonder why he wasn't eating with them.

"Fanks," Sarah said as she took a messy bite of her taco, a dollop of guac sliding down her chin that she quickly scooped up with a finger. Swallowing the bite, she continued, "I'll get dessert—"

"It's fine," Jim assured her, waving off the money that she was trying to pull from her back pocket. "It's for all the birthdays that I missed."

Sarah smiled brightly, her eyes welling with fresh tears, and Jim almost panicked at the emotion until Claire reached under the table and grasped his hand in hers.

"I miss guac," Claire sighed dramatically, picking her taco apart with a fork. "Miss Ellie isn't as much a fan as her mother is, though."

Sarah laughed, her cheeks reddening with a blush. "You get heartburn?"

"Killer," Claire nodded with a frown. "Every time I eat guac, or hot sauce, or anything that I love, Ellie just kicks it right back up."

"Sounds like you really love her, though," Sarah replied in a wistful voice, a soft smile on her lips.

"Of course, we do," Jim laughed, leaning over toward his wife and gently rubbing her belly. "She'll be worth it…" he looked up at from where his hand rested to Claire's face with a teasing smile. "…and I'll get you all the guac you want whenever you want to eat it again."

"She's very lucky to have you as parents, then," Sarah sighed, taking another bite of her taco to cover up the clear emotion in her voice. "So, as nice as you're being, I know you just want to know about Dad, so—"

"I want…" Jim interrupted, swallowing against the tightening in his throat. "I want to know _you_ , whether or not that includes Dad…"

Claire squeezed his hand tightly, but Sarah shook her head, a tear escaping her left eye. "Regardless… you deserve to know. I knew about you, even though Mom and Dad don't know that I know — well, I guess Dad knows that I know _now_ , but—"

"Sarah," Jim interrupted his sister's nervous rant, reaching across the table to grasp the girl's hand lightly. "It's okay. Just tell me."

Sarah took a deep breath and squeezed his hand back briefly before letting go. "So, Mom's an addict." Jim froze in shock, his wide eyes automatically seeking out Claire's as she glanced between him and Sarah with her mouth hanging slightly open. Sarah averted her gaze down to her taco and chips, hurrying on with her story. "Meth and crack, mostly, but sometimes heroine too. I think that's how they met, in the beginning… Dad did crack when I was a kid, but he's been clean for a few years now. Anyway, he didn't know about me until I was about 4. I guess mom was hard up for money and decided to use me as a permanent bargaining chip. Better to have a sugar daddy than relying on chance, right?"

Jim was breathless, his head pounding. "Wait… what do you mean? How could she even afford to keep you, if she didn't have any—"

"Mom's not a stranger to, um…" Sarah trailed off, shrugging awkwardly. "You know… _manual labor_. But… well, sometimes people aren't into what she's offering, you know? So, it was advantageous for her to keep me."

"What?" Claire asked, frowning and exchanging a confused look with Jim. "I fail to see how a baby could be anything but a hindrance in that situation… no offense."

Sarah gave an awkward laugh, shrugging. "Figures that my brother and his wife would actually be good people."

"Wha—?"

"Some people like… _little kids_ ," Sarah said in a small and shy voice, not daring to meet their eyes. "I made for good payment when they didn't want the usual."

There was a roaring in Jim's ears, and he didn't know if it was shock, anger, or a sick combination of the two, but he couldn't bring himself to even breathe properly as what Sarah was implying sunk into his brain.

"Dad let—"

" _No_ ," Sarah said quickly, glancing around nervously as Jim's voice rose with his anger. " _No_. Dad _protected_ me. He… I don't know the whole story — I was only a kid — but I guess Mom threatened to tell _your_ mom all about me and his drug habit, and he knew that it would ruin her reputation, so…"

"He left," Jim breathed, James's sudden departure from his life starting to make a lot more sense. Claire was as equally breathless with shock and anger, her hand trembling in his. "…and he knew that you needed him more than I did."

"It's not right," Sarah said, shaking her head, more tears slipping from her eyes. "Don't think he was being noble, because he wasn't. Maybe that was his intention, but now we're _all_ trapped. He should have reported Mom to the police and just dealt with the fallout."

"Sarah," Jim began, shifting slightly to reach for her hand again. She allowed his touch, but didn't squeeze back, merely allowing their fingers to pull together. "Please tell me this isn't still happening, because if it is—"

"Please don't try to be noble," Sarah laughed, blushing heavily. "It never works out for the Lake men too well."

" _Sarah_ ," Jim repeated in a harder voice, curling his hand around her fingers and giving a heavier squeeze.

Sarah sighed and looked to Claire with an exasperated expression. "Has he always been like this?"

Claire smiled fondly, leaning her head against Jim's shoulder. "Jim's a protector."

Jim rolled his eyes at the double meaning in Claire's words, though there was no way that Sarah would catch it.

"Don't worry," Sarah said, and she pulled her hand from his and used it to move her hair back from her shoulder, pulling the front of her shirt down just enough to show off the upper swell of her right breast. Jim's eyes widened in shock and pure fury rolled through his stomach as he saw the burn marks and scars mottling the pale flesh. "It's the safer option to just say 'yes,' than try and fight it. I learned that a long time ago… and Dad can't exactly protect me from something that I choose."

'That's coercion!" Claire gasped, dropping Jim's hand from hers and sidling over to Sarah's side. Sarah stiffened with an awkward expression on her face as Claire pulled the girl into a tight, protective hug. "You're coming home with us."

"Claire," Jim sighed, half laughing at the desperate look his sister was shooting him. "You can't kidnap her."

"Watch me," Claire threatened, tightening her grip on Sarah as if to dare someone to try and take her away.

"Cool it, Mama," Sarah laughed, hugging Claire back weakly. "I'm a big girl, and I can handle myself."

"Jim—"

"If Sarah wants to leave her parents, that's up to her, Claire," Jim said, running a hand through his hair meaningfully. "But we would probably need to run it by our _landlord_ first, don't you think?"

Claire frowned, leaning back from Sarah and letting her go with a reluctant sigh. "I guess…" she pulled Sarah into another brief hug, pressing a kiss to the girl's cheek. "But if you want to leave them, we'll figure something out."

Sarah laughed, finally giving into Claire affection and cuddling into her embrace. "Thanks, Mama. I'll think about it."

They finished their lunch and wandered the mall for a couple of hours. Claire and Sarah formed a thick friendship that was centered mostly around spending Jim's money on clothes. Eventually, Sarah took them back to the furniture store when she assured them that James would not be there, and managed to get Frank to sell them a mattress with the family discount. The old man was so astonished by the family scandal that he had witnessed that he made no fuss or argument, even selling them the mattress at sale with no commission. Jim felt a little guilty about that, even though Frank and Sarah both assured him that it was fine, so he decided to get a couch too.

"I can set delivery for tomorrow; got an address?" Frank asked in a subdued and polite voice.

"Will you deliver to a public place?" Jim asked, chewing his lip nervously.

"If you're worried about James—" Frank began with a frown, but Jim shook his head.

"It's not that," Jim assured the old man with a smile. "We live out in the Pine Barrens, and a delivery truck won't be able to get out as far in as we are. There's a truck stop right off the closest highway, and I can haul it back from there."

"If you're sure?"

"Yeah, I've got some friends who've volunteered to help."

"Look," Sarah snickered as they left the furniture store once more, and they were saying their goodbyes. She was still huddled in Jim's coat, but he assured her that she could keep it when he asked where hers was, and she informed him that she didn't have one. She slipped her hand into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out a familiar slip of paper. "You're getting my phone number, after all."

"And here's mine," Claire said, pulling a pen from her own coat pocket and writing her number down on Sarah's palm. "Jim's constantly losing or breaking his phone, so your best bet is to call me."

"Thanks," Sarah laughed, giving Claire a tight hug before turning around to Jim and throwing herself into his chest again.

Jim chuckled, obliging the tight embrace and returning it with a only a slightly lighter one of his own. Pulling apart after a minute, Sarah waved goodbye before skipping — literally skipping, Jim laughed to himself — down the street and disappearing around the corner.

"And to think that she wanted a date from you," Claire teased, tsk-ing under her tongue in a mock disappointment. "Good thing you're already taken, or you might have committed unintentional incest."

"I love you," Jim said with a roll of his eyes and laugh. "…but please shut up."

 _To be continued..._

⌨ ** _REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!_** ⌨


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

✪ _Well, here it is. Not as long as the previous chapter, but packed with some good stuff. I need to preface this chapter: you may have guessed from the way that I write that I have a medical background; that being said, I have never actually experienced childbirth, but I HAVE seen it - both vaginal and cesarean - multiple times, and I watched a ton of home birth videos in order to portray the big event as accurately as possible. Enjoy, my loves!_

 **Chapter Twenty-Three**

"Who's this Sarah person Claire keeps going on about?" Barbara asked as Jim helped her set up gifts on a rough stone table that Bagdwella had let them set up outside of her shop. "She seems upset that she couldn't come to the baby shower."

Jim cringed slightly, hoping the pile of gifts in his arms had hidden his reaction. "It's… complicated."

"Well, is she a friend?" Barbara asked, taking boxes from Jim's arms one by one and arranging them on the table in some kind of specific pattern that seemed to make sense to her. "I've never heard of a troll with a common name like _Sarah_ before."

"She's… she's a human," Jim explained, trying to keep his voice from betraying his nervousness at the line of questioning.

" _Really_?" Barbara gasped, turning her wide, blue eyes on Jim, her expression surprised. "I guess I can see why she couldn't make it today; I'm guessing she doesn't know about you or the trolls?"

"Well, she's met me with the Glamour Mask on," Jim said, letting his mother take the last of the boxes from his arms and arrange it this way and that way until she was satisfied with the presentation before her. "But, yeah, she doesn't know anything about the trolls."

"It's good that you and Claire have a human friend out this way, though," his mother replied, shooting a not so subtle glance at the healing remains of his left horn. A month and a half later, and the keratin had built back up over the raw center and it was starting to look more like the other one again, though still short enough that it only showed past his hair by an inch. "I hate that you both went all that time without any human contact."

Jim shrugged, uncomfortable with the conversation — mostly because his mother had no idea that their 'friend' was actually Jim's only a few months younger half sister. He'd been too confused and angry to bring it up to his mother, knowing that to do so would only break her heart all over again. "We're never bored living with the trolls, though."

"No, never that," Barbara agreed with a laugh, gesturing for Jim to follow her back over to the pub, where the food and drinks (both for human guests and troll guests, though Jim made Glug promise to keep her brew fairly weak for the current event) were set up. Claire was seated in a high wooden chair that had been brought in by a scrap runner a few nights before in the corner of the room, a blanket folded on the seat to act as a cushion. She was wearing a simple and comfortable black dress, her swollen, bare feet propped up on a low stool in front of her. Mary and Darci were both seated on the bar next to Claire, and they were laughing and giggling over something. When they spotted Jim, they all burst into giggles again, and he rolled his eyes, but smiled, glad that they were relaxed and having fun.

"Ugh, where do you want this basket?" Toby asked, hefting a wicker basket full of cheap, pink knickknacks up on a table.

"Oh, those are for the games!" Barbara said in excitement, clapping her hands together in delight. Jim couldn't remember seeing his mother so excited about something in his life. She put a hand to her chin thoughtfully, looking around, and then pointed to a table in the far right corner of the room. "Put them there for now, and I'll decide where they should go when we have everything else set up."

"Rightio, Dr. L!" Toby saluted dramatically and then dragged the basket off to its temporary destination. "Are you sure it's okay to use the pub like this?"

"Glug's pub," Glug grunted from where she was brewing in her tub behind the bar. "Glug say it's fine — others can go suck Merlin's ba—"

"Most of the trolls are home with their families during the day," Jim interjected quickly, before Glug could finish her sentence. "Unless someone decides to go on a bender, the pub doesn't get much traffic during this time."

"I do hope that there's an intentional use for all of these jars of mush."

"Oh, Walt!" Barbara exclaimed, a bright smile lighting up her features as her boyfriend walked into the pub, carrying a cardboard case of clinking glass. "Thank you, dear! They are for the baby food eating game."

A disgusted look crossed Strickler's face, but he cleared it before Barbara had noticed, smiling as he handed over the case. Jim's quiet laughter caught the older man's attention, and he turned to him, his wings fluttering briefly with the movement. "Ah, Young Atlas! Come help me set up the banner, will you?"

"You got a banner?" Jim said to his mother in a flat voice, smirking and shaking his head.

"Of course!" Barbara replied with an affronted look. "This is my first grandchild; I'm going all out."

"You're setting a standard, Barbara," Claire laughed, rubbing her tummy gently with both hands. "The next ones will be jealous."

"Oh, hush," Barbara laughed, her hands on her hips as she stuck her tongue out playfully at Claire. "I'll throw them all their own unique party."

Jim shook his head, laughing, and then turned to follow Strickler out of the pub, finding the green troll leaning casually against the outside wall of the inner cave. "Are we having a baby shower or a wedding rehearsal?"

"Well, your mother didn't get the chance to throw any party for your wedding, so I imagine this is her way of combining the two," Strickler chuckled, pushing himself away from the wall and gesturing for Jim to follow him.

"I thought you wanted to put the banner up?" Jim asked, confused. He hurried after Strickler, falling into step beside the older troll as they continued to walk along the nearly empty streets.

"I'd like to speak with you first, if I may?" Strickler said, his right wing fluttering out to cover Jim's back. Strickler made the move almost every time that he and Jim spoke privately, and it had taken him a while to figure out that it was a protective gesture. Given the tumultuous relationship that they had shared in the past, the sometimes over protectiveness that Strickler now showed was touching… it could also be a little annoying, but Jim knew the move came from a place of love, so he never complained.

"Sure," Jim shrugged with a relaxed smile. "What's up, Pops?"

Strickler snorted, rolling his eyes at the nickname that Jim had given him. "Several things; first, I don't wish to dampen the happiness of this day, but I must ask: any further word on Usurna or her comrades?"

"No," Jim sighed, kicking a stone in front of him. The little rock clattered across the floor, the echo bouncing off of the high cavern walls. "It's almost like she's been erased from existence… but that's not possible, is it?"

"No, I don't believe so," Strickler replied, frowning as they came to a stop at the edge of a high cliff. Below, a larger cavern had been barely excavated, only a rough path carved out and lined with glowing crystals for anyone brave enough to walk through. "I have heard silence on my end, as well. It is… disconcerting. I suspect that whatever Usurna has planned runs far deeper than her surface involvement."

Jim swallowed thickly and nodded, remembering the warnings of the Mother Dragon. Jim had made an attempt to find her again, with Merlin's help, but when they visited the cave in the present, they only found the decayed remains of her nest and hatchlings, the mother herself completely gone. Jim hoped that her mate had found her again and they had escaped to a safer place together, but he knew that was a long shot, by far.

"I shall keep my ears and eyes open," Strickler went on after a minute of silence. "My contacts and I have been keeping in touch; if she makes a move, we will know. It's only a matter of time."

"It's time that I'm worried about," Jim admitted in a quiet voice, unconsciously glancing back in the direction that they had walked from. They were pretty far out, but he could still hear the talk and laughter of his friends and family coming from the pub.

"Yes," Strickler said, his wing curling further around Jim's back and shoulders. "I admit, I'm a bit worried about that too."

"What?" Jim questioned, his gaze finding Strickler's again. Something about the older man's tone suggested that he was no longer speaking about Usurna.

"Jim," Strickler said with a patient voice, a wry smile curving his fanged mouth. "Have you even _seen_ a birth before?"

"Health class," Jim growled, glaring at his would be step-father. "For the flour baby project."

"Tame in comparison to the real thing," Strickler chuckled, gripping Jim's shoulder with a bracing hand. "There's only so much that's allowed to be shown to high school students — and just because you got the kid in, doesn't mean that you know all to do to get the kid out."

"Ha ha," Jim rolled his eyes, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Breathe and catch, right?"

Strickler laughed. "And in between?"

"In… between?"

"Yes," Strickler chuckled, shaking his head in amusement. "Breathing and catching is the easy part. Labor can last for several hours, even up to a few days — do you know what to do to help Claire through it? She'll be tired and in pain, and it can be very overwhelming for both of you."

"Dagny taught me how to make a tea that will help with the pain," Jim said, shrugging slightly. "She's given me more than enough of the herbs. I have towels and blankets and first aid… we're prepared as much as we can be."

"Jim…" Strickler said, seeming to struggle for words for a few seconds. "I can't say that I know what you'll be going through — in all of my centuries, I've never had a partner before your mother — but I know that this will be difficult for you in a way that is different than what you would have experienced as a human. Your mother and I both need to know that you and Claire will be okay… and I need to know that — despite whatever instincts that will be bombarding you — if anything at all goes wrong, you'll call your mother."

Jim bit his lip, a growl already beginning to form in his chest against his will. "I… I don't know if can…"

"You _must_ try," Strickler insisted, turning Jim so that they faced each other, both of his hands gripping Jim's tense shoulders. "Promise me, Jim — promise me that you will try to fight your instincts and let your mother help, if the need arises. _Promise me_."

Jim took in a shaky breath, nodding. "I'll try. I promise that I'll try."

"That's all I ask," Strickler breathed in relief, pressing his forehead briefly to Jim's.

A burst of loud laughter echoing back from the market center reached them, and Jim pulled back, moving to walk back to the pub. The older man's grip on his shoulder's increased, holding Jim in place. "Something else?"

"As a matter of fact," Strickler said, his voice and stance suddenly tense and nervous. He squeezed Jim's shoulders briefly and then let go, stepping back. Jim was surprised when Strickler wrapped his wings around himself in a protective move.

"Pops?" Jim prompted, and the nickname had the intended affect. Strickler rolled his eyes and laughed, relaxing slightly.

"I, um…" Strickler stuttered, breathing deeply. "Okay, um… Jim, you know — you know that I, uh… I l-love your mother dearly, a-and I would do anything in my power to keep her safe and happy, and _you_ too. Um…" Strickler was breathing heavily now, so nervous that his wings were fluttering in agitation, and a fine sheen of sweat was beginning to form on his green skin. "I — I understand, given our history, that trusting me is—"

"You've more than proven yourself," Jim assured the man with a gentle smile. "…and you don't have to ask my permission."

Jim laughed at the shocked look that crossed Strickler's face, but then the expression crumpled in guilt. "Yes, I do, Jim. I do have to ask, because I don't want to be the selfish man that I have been in the past. I _do_ love your mother, and you, and Claire, and that baby, and… I don't just want to marry your mother; I want to be a part of her family, of _your_ family. That stupid nickname…" Strickler chuckled shaking his head. "It's annoying, but I've grown fond of it."

"And what are your intentions?" Jim asked, only half joking. His hand automatically went to cover his heart, where he could feel Claire's soul the strongest. Strickler understood and nodded, his expression conflicted.

"I must admit, a soul bond would be… amazing," Strickler said, biting his lip anxiously. "But I would leave that choice up to your mother. What I did using Angor's magic… I understand and accept that it permanently scarred certain aspects of our relationship. I took her choice away once, and I will _never_ do it again."

"And that's why you don't need my permission," Jim said, smiling. He pulled a shocked Strickler into a tight hug, pressing his forehead back to the older man's. "Just ask Mom. But… let Claire have her day, okay?"

Strickler laughed, hugging Jim back lightly, his wings fluttering. "Of course."

. . .

"Mmm… I think that was the best cake that I've ever tasted," Claire hummed, licking her lips as if she could still taste the coconut cream cake that Barbara had brought from her second favorite baker in Arcadia (Jim being the first, but he had no access to an oven in New Trollmarket).

"I'll take your word for it," Jim replied, chuckling as he leaned over and pressed a chaste kiss to her cheek. They were seated on their new couch in their living room, sorting through the gifts that they'd been given at the party, which had ended only an hour before. "I'm sorry that I couldn't make it myself."

"It would have been a thousand times better," Claire laughed, nuzzling his neck lovingly. She winced slightly after a second, leaning back with a hand on her lower back. "Ah, Ellie… pick a position, will you?"

Jim laughed, placing the pack of socks in his hands down (he would need to make doubly sure to hide those from NotEnrique) and reached over to gently rub his wife's heavily swollen belly. "Is she shuffling around too much?"

"No," Claire sighed, arching her back slightly. Jim pressed his other hand to Claire's lower back, rubbing the stiff muscles. He felt the muscles tightening under his touch and then ease as the tension was released. She sighed, leaning into his side as the pain eased. "She just likes to stick her feet into the most uncomfortable places. She's been pushing up against my back since this afternoon."

"Why don't you go on to bed?" Jim encouraged, giving a quick nuzzle and lick to her chin. "I'll finish up here and follow you in a bit."

"Do I get special attention?" Claire teased, but then her expression scrunched up in pain again. "Miss Ellie, get your damn foot out of Mommy's spine!"

Jim chuckled, standing to his feet, Claire's hands grasped in his as he helped her to stand. "Go lie down and stretch out. She's probably just protesting that you were sitting most of the day."

Claire sighed, groaning dramatically. "Of course! My little Trollhunter has to be fighting fit!" She glared down at her belly, a playful frown on her face. "You're going to give me grays, child."

Jim chuckled, pressing a soft kiss to his mate's forehead while she wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers tugging gently at his scruff. "Go on to bed, and she'll calm down. I'm just going to finish putting this stuff up, and I'll be right after you. _With_ special attention, if you still want it," he added with a laugh and another kiss.

"I always want it," Claire responded, giving him another loving nuzzle. Letting him go, she smiled and pressed another kiss to his lips. "See you in a bit."

Jim smiled, watching as his mate waddled off into their bedroom, the curtain fluttering closed behind her. He took his seat on the couch again, his troll body a little too tall for it, but it was still more comfortable than a few blankets thrown on the floor. If the trolls didn't eat them, Ellie would be set for clothes for at least the first 2 years of her life; frilly dresses were the pick of choice when their friends and families had chosen their gifts, apparently. Jim laughed as he sorted through them, wondering why no one seemed to remember that his daughter was a quarter troll and would likely rough her way through half of these dresses before she would be a year old. AAARRRGGHH!, bless him, had seemed to be the only one with a sense of practicality; his gift had been a set of crystal salt blocks, harvested from the Krubera Salt Caves, and carved into building blocks that were small enough for baby and toddler hands to play with. AAARRRGGHH! told them that the blocks were given to Krubera children when they were born because the magics and minerals in the salts were healing and fortifying, and it was why Krubera trolls were always so strong and healthy.

"Jim."

Jim looked up at his mate's voice, cracking a smile as she pushed the curtain aside and stood in the doorway, a thin bathrobe tied loosely around her body, her arms cradling her heavy stomach. "She still not sitting still?"

Claire shook her head, a frown on her face. "…I think I'm having contractions."

" _What_?" Jim gasped, dropping the cloth doll from his hands and jumping to his feet. He rushed to her side, pressing his hands to her stomach; a pulse rippled against his hands, but it wasn't the familiar kick of hands or feet that he was used to. Barely a second later, the muscles beneath his hands relaxed again, and Claire slumped forward slightly. She leant her head against his shoulder, letting out a slow breath.

"…stopped now," she sighed, relaxing against Jim. "It's okay… I think this must have only been the second or third one. They're not strong and they've been hours apart."

"Do you think it's false labor?" Jim asked, swaying her back and forth as his hands moved to rub her back.

"Mm," Claire hummed, shaking her head. "They're sitting too low, and my hips ache."

Jim took in a shaky breath, nodding against her head. "Okay. Do you think you might be able to get some sleep between contractions?"

"I can rest," Claire nodded, leaning back slightly to gaze up at him. "It's going to be a long labor."

Jim nodded, pretending to be calm, even though his gut was twisting with nerves and his heart was pounding. Silently, he lead her back into the bedroom and helped her to lie down on their bed, lying down behind her and spooning her smaller body into his. Brushing her hair back from her face, he pressed his lips to her cheek, murmuring his love into her ear.

. . .

"UUUGHH!"

Jim's ears twitched, his heart pounding almost as fiercely as his head. Claire was kneeling naked on her hands and knees on the bed, rocking back and forth with each pulse of her contraction. Nearly an entire day and a half had passed since the first contractions, and she was now in very active labor. Jim was surprised that he wasn't panicking as much as he thought he would have been, though the agony and pain in his mate's voice made his heart lurch. Seeing her body changing and stretching was both fascinating and terrifying, but he was proud of himself for maintaining his composure, if only for Claire's sake.

"You're doing great," Jim encouraged, pressing down on Claire's hips to help ease some of her pain. He could feel the looseness in her pelvic bones as they separated, and it made his own hands tremble with nerves.

"Oh, shut up!" Claire sobbed, screaming into the pillow beneath her face. "I can't do this!"

"Yes, you can," Jim cooed, pressing a kiss to the center of her back. "You _are_. Here, give me your hand."

"No…" she cried back, but allowed Jim to grasp her trembling hand in his and pull it back under her body to press against herself. Claire's breath caught as she felt around the area. "Wh-wha…?"

"That's the top of her head," Jim whispered into Claire's ear, smiling at the stunned look on her face. "See? You're doing great."

"M-my… my mirror," Claire gasped, taking her hand back to wave off in the direction of the makeshift dressing table. "Please… I-I want to see."

Jim nodded and dashed across the room to the table, snatching up the hand mirror that was sitting in the top. Quickly, he brought the object back to his mate, handing it to her so that she could find the best angle while he went back to pressing on her hips. "See her?"

Claire whimpered, but nodded, burying the top of her head into the pillow she was hugging as she tilted her head forward. Moaning in pain, she struggled to breathe and speak at the same time. "Mmm… it h-hurts…."

"I know," Jim replied, his throat tightening with emotion at the agony in her voice and the very real fear that was coursing through. "I know, baby. I'm so sorry. Do you want to try some more of the pain tea?"

Claire dropped the mirror onto the bed and hugged the pillow to her chest, nodding frantically with her face pressed into the blankets below her. Jim waited until her contraction had eased, and then quickly rushed out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, where a pot holding the pain tea that Dagny had taught him to make was being kept warm by the fireside. Claire had managed to hold down the drink the first few times, but had coughed it up the last time, her muscles contracting too hard for her stomach to hold much. With that thought in mind, Jim grabbed a clean cloth from a shelf and put it in the pot to soak up the tea, and then wrung it out loosely.

"Here, suck on this, okay?" Jim said as he hurried back to his mate's side. Claire lifted her tear-strained face from the pillow, panting heavily in an attempt to catch her breath before the next contraction hit. She took the tea-soaked cloth from him and pressed it to her mouth, biting down on the material. He didn't know if it was because of all of the pheromones in the air, or he was just giddy with nerves and exhaustion, but he couldn't help but to nuzzle his mate lovingly. "You're so beautiful."

"Hah!" Claire snorted a laugh through the cloth in her mouth, but she smiled, nuzzling him back. Letting the cloth drop from her mouth, she shifted her body onto her side. "H-hold my le-leg up."

"Yeah," Jim nodded, helping his wife adjust her body so that she could stretch out on her right side as much as she could while he pulled her left leg up over his shoulder, widening the space between her legs.

"Gah!" Claire cried out again, her body spasming as she fell into the position that she wanted, and Jim watched in fascination as her belly literally dropped by an inch, and Claire scrambled to throw her hands down to catch herself. Reacting immediately, he pressed his hands between her legs, staring in breathless shock as the baby's head just _popped_ right out and into his waiting hands. Claire sobbed out a scream. "Oooh! _Oh, my god_! J-Jim… God, I tore, d-d-din't I?"

"No," Jim laughed, his whole body trembling with adrenalin. "Her head's out. I… I've got her head. Wait…" he quickly pressed his fingers between his mate and the base of his child's head, making sure that her cord wasn't caught around her neck. His other hand still cradling her head, he moved his thumb to press against the baby's mouth; she hadn't taken a breath yet, her chest too compressed in the birth canal, but she reacted immediately by sucking on the object in her mouth. Breathing a sigh of relief, Jim was about to reach for Claire's hand when there was an intense surge of magic from behind him.

"Jim! It's Usurna! One of my contacts — oh, sh—!"

"Jim!"

In the very small recesses of his mind, Jim knew that his mate and whelp were in no danger — that it was only Strickler and his own mother — but he whipped around with a loud and threatening snarl all the same, his scruff standing on end, his teeth bared, crouched and ready to spring.

Barbara didn't seem to register her son's threat, going directly into doctor mode as soon as she realized the situation. She gasped, moving to rush forward, but Strickler grabbed her around the waist, pulling her back before Jim could attack.

"Walt, stop! What are you _doing_?" Barbara yelled, trying to beat Strickler's arms off of her. "Claire needs—"

"Didn't you _tell_ her?" Strickler growled, glaring at Jim even as he kept backing away, dragging Barbara with him.

"Tell me _what_?" Barbara screeched as her feet were lifted from the ground, and she started kicking her boyfriend's legs. "Are you all insane?! Claire needs a doc—"

"Get out, get out, _get out_!" Claire screamed, and a pillow flew over Jim's head and smacked Barbara in the face.

Strickler struggled for a moment, and then there was another surge of magic and a flash of blue light as Strickler grabbed the charm that had been dangling from Barbara's wrist. In the next second, they were gone.

" _Ji—UUUAAAGGHH!_ "

Claire's agonized scream broke Jim out of his defensive mode, and he shook the bloodlust and red haze from his head. Turning back to her, he pulled her leg back over his shoulder as another contraction made her whole body convulse. With another scream that echoed so loudly that he was sure everyone down in the market could hear, she bared down with all of her waning strength. Jim moved quickly just as the baby's shoulders passed through, and with a gush of blood and liquid, she fell right into his arms.

 _Breathe and catch_.

Ellie's face was scrunched up, her little hands balled into fists as she gasped once, twice, and then let out an angry little cry. Jim couldn't help but give a breathless and choked laugh as he examined his daughter, taking in her red face and short black hair, a prominent white patch in her forward hairline. Five fingers on each hand, five toes on each foot, chubby belly, and two, almost flat nubs on the top of her slightly coned head.

She was perfect.

"Is she okay?" Claire gasped, leaning up on her elbows weakly, her body twisted awkwardly as her leg was still slung over Jim's shoulder. She was trying to sit up while keeping her legs spread to prevent them from tangling in the cord that was still connected to the baby, the other end still inside of her. "Is she hurt? Is she—"

"She's perfect," Jim gasped, laughing almost deliriously, his stomach and heart jumping with happiness as he cradled the wet and squirming little body to his bare chest. "She's so perfect."

Claire groaned as her body spasmed again, her legs trembling weakly. Jim leant forward, pressing Ellie into her mother's shaking arms. She cried loudly and angrily until she was settled against Claire's chest, sniffling and turning her head into her mother's breast. She found the nipple with only a few snuffles, latching on instinctively.

"So much hard work, being born, isn't it?" Claire cooed down at the infant in her arms. Her body spasmed again, but she didn't seem to notice the pain anymore, or not as intensely as before.

Jim had to fight back the desire to pull them into his arms and never let go; he could scent the pheromones that his mate's body was releasing as she nursed the baby, and it was making him feel a little dopey. Shaking his head, he let his hands fall down to her flatter, but still swollen stomach, pressing down with the next contraction. It took another hour, but the afterbirth was delivered with far more ease than Ellie herself had been, and Jim cleaned his mate gently, letting her have her bonding time with the baby.

"How are you doing, Mommy?" Jim asked, gently massaging the back of Claire's thighs.

Claire, who hadn't taken her eyes off of their daughter since the moment he had handed her over, finally looked up to meet his happy, yet concerned gaze. "I said some horrible things while I was in pain, didn't I?"

"I do recall some threats directed a little _below the belt_ ," Jim teased, moving up to lie next to his wife and child, pulling them into his arms.

Ellie had fallen asleep between them, and Jim leant forward, licking a bit of vernix from her hair without thought to his actions, and then froze, looking up at his mate in embarrassment as he realized what he'd done. Claire laughed softly, loosening her hold on the baby enough so that Jim could get to her, and he relaxed as he realized that she understood his actions, even if she didn't necessarily share the same instincts that were guiding him. Gently, he licked Ellie's face and hair clean; when he reached her belly, he bit the cord apart with ease, something in his saliva stemming the blood flow almost instantly. It was weird, being conscious of his actions, and yet overwhelmed by his instincts; he was grateful that his very human mate understood and accepted them, because he didn't know if he would have been able to suppress them.

"I'll take back everything I said, if you promise not to eat the placenta in front of me," Claire teased in a hoarse voice after Jim had pulled back from Ellie, silently deeming her clean enough, for the time being.

"Ha ha," Jim said, rolling his eyes. Nuzzling his mate lovingly, he hugged her body gently to his, their newborn baby cradled against their chests between them. "I take it that you're more comfortable, if you feel up to teasing me."

Claire smiled, caressing his cheek softly and pressing her lips to his in a deep kiss. " _You_ were amazing."

Jim snorted. "All I did was catch."

Claire rolled her eyes, nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck. "…so tired."

"Sleep," Jim encouraged, gently rubbing Claire's lower back. "You earned it."

Instead of obliging, Claire frowned, shaking her head slightly, though Jim could feel the exhaustion that was pulling at her. "Strickler said something about Usurna…"

Jim growled under his breath, the sound cutting off abruptly as Ellie reacted to it, squirming and whimpering between them, in her sleep. He gently brushed his hand over her little head, noting that that the coning was going down, her head becoming round again. "I guess I should call him."

"Don't be angry," Claire murmured, pressing a soft kiss to the space above his heart. "They didn't know. She's a month early, so it's understandable that your mom freaked out."

Jim nodded, smiling slightly. "She's strong."

Claire chuckled, leaning down to nuzzle Ellie's cheek. "My little Trollhunter."

"Will you be okay for a few minutes?" Jim asked, rubbing Claire's back gently as he watched her head drop back to the pillow, her eyelids fluttering.

Claire gave a small nod, her arms tightening on the baby, pulling her closer to her chest. "Just throw a blanket over me."

Jim chuckled and did as his mate asked. He hated pulling away from them, and if Strickler hadn't mentioned Usurna with such urgency in his voice, Jim probably would have let the man stew in worry for a bit longer. He wrapped up the remains of the afterbirth in a towel and grabbed his phone; Claire was fast asleep before the curtain had even fluttered closed behind him.

"Jim?!" Strickler answered the phone barely a second after the first ring, his voice on edge and panicked. In the background, Jim could hear his mother slamming pots and pans and cursing, and he cringed as he recognized her habits of anger. "Is Claire all right? How is the baby? What—"

"They're fine," Jim interrupted the string of anxious questions, his voice calm. He was likely to still attack anyone who came close to his mate and child right now, but he could handle talking on the phone. "She's strong and healthy. She was kind of pissed off to be evicted, though."

Strickler laughed, the sound relieved, but strained. "I apologize for our intrusion; obviously, I had no idea that Claire was in labor."

"Is Mom okay?" Jim asked, ignoring the older man's apology.

"…she doesn't understand," Strickler admitted in a whisper, his voice gruff with emotion. "I tried to explain, but I… I think it might be too much for her. She's a doctor; her first reaction is from a medical standpoint."

Jim cringed, his heart aching with guilt. "I know you have important stuff to tell me, but could I talk to Mom for a minute?"

"Of course," Strickler responded, his voice kind and understanding. There was a pause on the other end, the sound of banging kitchenware and cursing coming to a stop.

"Hello?" Barbara's voice was quiet and flat, and Jim cringed as he recognized the suppressed anger in it.

"Mom," Jim replied, anxiously starting to pace around the living room. He was upset that his mother was upset, and he also hated having to squash down the desire to go back to his mate and whelp. Logically, he knew they were safe, but he couldn't convince his instincts of that. "I'm sorry. I should have told you befo—"

"It's not about telling me!" Barbara yelled, and Jim could almost see her redheaded temper flaring. "I can't believe that you would put Claire and the baby in that kind of danger—"

"They weren't in _any_ danger," Jim growled, the hair on his scruff standing on end in agitation. " _You_ were the one in danger for barging in—"

"Childbirth requires a doctor's supervi—"

" _Mom_!" Jim snarled, and then took a deep breath to try and calm himself. "If I thought for any second that something was wrong, I would have called, even if I had to have Blinky hold me back while you helped her."

"I don't understand this," Barbara said, and Jim could hear the tiredness and break in her voice. She had been so understanding and accepting of almost every aspect of his changed demeanor… but he could already see that this is what would break her. "You are _not_ an animal, Jim, and you should have—"

"Barb, please—" Strickler's agonized voice broke in from the background, but it was cut off by the clatter of breaking glass.

"She should have been at the hospital!" Barbara screeched, both to her son and boyfriend. "She's _17_! And giving birth in a _cave_? I—"

"It's no different than any home birth," Jim growled, his own temper starting to spike. "And even if I _could have_ ignored my gut and taken her to the hospital, Ellie would have been carted off to who knows where! Or did you forget that your son is no longer completely human, and so your granddaughter isn't either? And I'll be _damned_ ," Jim went on, growling over his mother's attempts at butting in. "…if I let someone take her from me because they think her horns are some kind of _defect_."

"You still should've at least let me—"

"Mom, I love you," Jim said, cutting her protest off. He dropped his head into his free hand as he spoke, rubbing tiredly at his eyes. "I love you so much, but I'm not the son you knew, okay? No, I'm _not_ an animal, but you know that I'm operating at a different frequency than a human — and that's not going to ever change back, okay? And I love you," he repeated again, biting his lip as he decided to be honest with his mother. "…but if you had come any closer… if Pops hadn't pulled you back… I would have attacked you before I even realized that it _was_ you."

Barbara made a strangled gasping sound on the other end of the line, and Jim cringed in guilt. Silence followed after for a few seconds, and then she responded, her voice hard and clipped. "Call me when I'm _allowed_ to examine them."

"Mom—"

But she was already gone, shuffling the phone off to her boyfriend. Jim heard heavy footsteps and the sound of a slamming door, and then the heavy sigh of his almost-step-father. "… _is_ everyone all right?"

"Yeah," Jim replied, his throat tight as he processed his mother's rejection. It wasn't _really_ rejection, per se, but it stung that one of the women that he loved most in his life was disappointed in him for something that she just couldn't understand. "Claire's hurting, obviously, but she's doing great; there was only a little bit of blood. Ellie's lungs are pretty strong, and so is her appetite," Jim chuckled, shaking his head free of the growing ache. "She started nursing all on her own."

"Good," Strickler sighed on the other end, relief in his voice. "And you?"

"Just tired," Jim admitted, ignoring his exhaustion to get down to business. "And worried. What's going on?"

"One of my contacts from the East Coast got into contact with me a few hours ago; he says that he has information on Usurna. He wants to speak with you directly; obviously, I've called him back to inform him of the delay. He's assured me that it can wait for a few days, but he _did_ stress the need to meet within the week."

"Does he know where she is?" Jim asked, frowning. As much as it would go against every protective urge that he had, he _would_ meet with the guy, if it meant finding Usurna and being done with her.

"Unfortunately, no," Strickler replied, agitation in his voice. Jim heard fluttering on the other end of the line and could picture Strickler's nervous habit of twitching his wings. "But he more or less confirmed what I suspected about there being a deeper involvement. He said that he had information that would give us insight into who she's working for."

"Working for?" Jim repeated, chewing his lip nervously. "So, she's _not_ the mastermind."

"Truthfully, this doesn't surprise me," Strickler said. "Usurna likes to pretend that she's in charge; perhaps she even believes that _she_ is the one manipulating the results they seek, but she inevitably falls under someone else's heel."

"Like Gunmar and Morgana," Jim murmured, mostly to himself.

"Indeed," Strickler replied. "Even Gunmar was nothing more than someone else's pawn, in the end. Jim…"

"I'm sorry for lashing out," Jim apologized, catching the shift in Strickler's tone. "I was protecting them."

"And I understand," the older man replied, his voice calm. "I'll speak with your mother; she'll come around."

Jim snorted, rolling his eyes. "She's a doctor; she'll only understand that I _ignored medical advice_."

"And no offense to my dearest," Strickler chuckled. "But medical advise has nothing on a troll's intuition."

Jim laughed, the heaviness in his heart lifting a little. He opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Ellie's renewed cries from the bedroom. "I—"

"It's all right," Strickler assured him, a warmth coming into his voice as he heard the baby from his end. "Go on; I'll call back in a few hours."

"Thanks, Pops."

"Ha ha."

Ellie let out another cry and Jim hung up, hurrying back into the bedroom. Claire, half asleep and wincing in pain, was trying to shift around so the the baby could reach her other breast. Jim rushed to her side, pulling his mate around so that she could rest between his legs, her back pressed along his chest. She cringed as she maneuvered her legs up to put most of her weight on her tailbone rather than her bottom. Jim wrapped his arms underneath his mate's, and together they cradled the baby as she latched on to the fuller breast and began to nurse again.

"Being born works up an appetite, apparently," Claire joked in a cracked and weak voice. Jim chuckled, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek. "What did Strickler say?"

"One of his contacts has information he wants to pass on," Jim told her, brushing a thumb across his daughter's cheek. Her hair was drying into a messy tuft of downy black and white, and he couldn't resist pushing it back from her face, proudly admiring the familiar blue eyes blinking up at them. "Hey, there. Do you know who we are?"

Claire giggled, turning her head and nuzzling her face into Jim's neck lovingly. "She should, after all that work."

Jim smiled, chuckling as he continued to speak to the baby; she was watching them with far more awareness than he'd ever seen a newborn have before. "I'm your daddy, and this is your mommy. You'll probably like her more for a while because she's got the food." Claire laughed, elbowing him lightly in the gut. He chuckled, continuing to speak in a quiet voice to Ellie. "…but Daddy will always be here for you. I'll teach you Trollish and Fey and Mommy can teach you Spanish—"

"We might even fit some English in there, somewhere," Claire laughed, her shoulders shaking lightly with mirth.

Jim laughed, nuzzling his face into Claire's hair, pressing a kiss to the shell of her ear. "And I'll teach you how to wield a sword—"

"And Mommy will teach you magic," Claire cooed, jumping into the game they were playing.

"And Daddy will teach you how to drive a Vespa—"

"Only over Mommy's dead body."

"But most importantly," Jim added with quiet seriousness, cradling his baby's head gently. "Daddy will _never_ leave you, and I will _always_ love you and protect you. _Always_ **."**

Ellie made a small noise against her mother's breast, and then swung a little fist up by her face, her blue eyes blinking seriously. Her fist bumped against against Jim's thumb and she had grasped on before he'd even realized that she'd opened her hand.

"Are you crying?" Claire giggled, her voice thick as she reached up with one hand to brush a tear from his cheek.

Jim laughed, shaking his head. "Shut up."

Claire laughed again, tilting her head up, her lips parted, and he obliged her silent request, meeting her tongue with his own for a deep kiss. When they broke apart, Claire was smiling up at his with a love sick look. "We did good work on this one, Daddy."

"We should definitely do it again sometime," Jim chuckled, and captured her lips with his once more.

 _To be continued..._

➳ _FYI: Vernix is the waxy, white substance that babies are covered with when they're born. It's essentially skin cells that have been shed in utero._

✩ _**PLEASE**_ ** _REVIEW!_** ✩


	24. Chapter Twenty-Four

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

➳ _Sorry again for the later than usual update. With NaNoWriMo coming up, I've been preparing my novel (a sequel to a previous entry), so my writing has been split between fan fiction and original work. Anywho, enjoy!_

 **Chapter** **Twenty-Four**

Jim felt like he'd only slept for a mere few minutes when he was awakened by the sounds of soft whimpers, which were quickly growing into louder whines. Reluctantly, he pried his eyes open, stretching slightly as he yawned. Another whine caught his attention, and he shifted his gaze to the infant that was settled between his and his mate's chests. Claire was still sound asleep, not that Jim could blame her; if _he_ was exhausted then she was sure to be all but dead. Nearly two full days of labor and childbirth, and she more than deserved to have a good, long sleep. Ellie whined again, louder this time, and Jim chuckled as he saw the intelligence shining back at him from her wide, blue eyes.

"What?" Jim cooed in a whisper. Silently, he shifted his arm under the baby and lifted her to cradle against his chest, careful not to wake Claire.

Standing silently from the bed, Jim wrapped Ellie in a small blanket and silently escaped into the living room with her. He watched in fascination as his baby took in her surroundings with curiosity, her eyes wide and blinking as she mouthed on her fist.

"You are far too aware for a newborn," Jim said to her, smiling as she turned her gaze back to him at the sound of his voice. "Especially a premature newborn."

Ellie blinked at him, making a little huffing noise in the back of her throat, and Jim laughed softly. Brushing her soft hair back from her face, he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, breathing in her sweet cinnamon and milk scent.

"So, what's all this fuss, then, hm?" he asked as he pulled back from her with a content smile. "You're not hungry, because I know you can find your milkies all on your own." She hummed back to him, as if to agree with his assessment, and he grinned in amusement. "And I'm pretty sure that I didn't dream changing your diaper just a little bit ago." A gurgle this time. "You just want attention, don't you?" Jim was surprised when a very troll-like purr echoed from his baby's chest, accompanied with a slightly louder gurgle, her swaddled feet kicking against his arm. Jim almost laughed too loud in reaction, but he managed to stifle himself at the last second. "Well, no offense, honey, but I don't think I have the mental fortitude to take you out of the cave for a tour, right now."

Ellie blinked up at him, still purring. Jim smiled, settling down on the couch, the baby pressed warmly to his heart. After a moment, he purposefully started producing his own purr, and he almost laughed out loud at the surprised look that crossed Ellie's face as she recognized his response. Her purr became slightly louder, and she lifted her fist from her mouth to press against the skin of his chest, feeling the vibrations that he was producing.

"Oh, now there's two of you, hm?"

Jim looked up in surprise at the sound of his mate's voice, his purr cutting off abruptly as he saw her leaning against the doorway of the bedroom, a blanket wrapped loosely around her. Ellie jerked in his arms, letting out a short cry of protest as the sound he was producing disappeared. Standing, he rocked the baby gently, trying to soothe her again. She went back to mouthing her fist, her own purr beginning again, though she had a bit of grumpy look on her face.

"Did we wake you?" Jim asked quietly, moving swiftly to his mate's side. She was leaning heavily against the doorway, and he could feel the exhaustion in her soul.

"No," Claire shook her head, her eyelids fluttering tiredly. Almost apologetically, she lifted her head and gave him a tired smile. "Thank you for letting me sleep in a bit more."

"You're still tired," Jim said, brushing Claire's hair back behind her ear and pressing a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth. "She's fine for now; why don't you go back to sleep?"

Claire shook her head, blushing slightly. "I have to go to the bathroom, but I'm kind of terrified to try."

Jim chuckled, kissing her again. He wrapped his free arm lightly around her waist, allowing her to lean into his chest, rather than the doorway, for support. "I'm so glad that I'm a guy."

"Ha ha," Claire replied, rolling her eyes and smirking, and lightly poked his chest. "At least help me out to the latrine."

Jim laughed, tightening his hold on her waist a little bit. "C'mon."

The latrine was actually fashioned more like a human bathroom than an actual latrine. It was in another cave that was a few yards north of their main cave; a hot spring pool (a surprising find that had helped cement the choice of where to make their home) made the air warm and moist. Most of the trolls didn't really care too much about their proximity to water — River and Garden Trolls notwithstanding — so no one argued over the area when Jim had claimed it. Never mind the fact that they were on the very outskirts of the market, while most of the trolls had decided to build their caves within the market center. The hot spring overflowed into an underground river, of sorts, which made the whole room a perfect bathroom setting.

"Jim? What's wrong?"

Jim had come to a sudden halt, his stance tense as they came around to the latrine, a foot or so from the entrance. Nothing looked off, but there was something that seemed wrong about the area… or he was just on edge, and he was being an overprotective idiot. His arms tightened around Claire's waist and the baby in the crook of his other arm, and then he reluctantly let Claire go.

"I…" Jim swallowed against the sudden nervousness fluttering around in his chest, knowing that both of his girls could pick up on it, Ellie already beginning to fuss slightly. "I'm just being stupid, I guess…"

"No," Claire said, shaking her head and moving to take the baby from his arms. "If you think something's wrong, then you should trust it. Do you smell something?"

"I don't know…" Jim frowned, taking a deep breath. The warm, moist air wasn't the most conductive for holding on to scents, but he _did_ detect the smallest of differences in the air. It was familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. "Stay here, and keep your guard up."

Claire nodded seriously, cradling Ellie to her chest as she covered the both of them in her blanket to stave off the little bit of chill in the air. Jim's armor summoned itself without a thought, the Amulet activating from within his pocket. Silently, Jim looked about the area, inspecting almost every crevice, but came up with nothing more than a couple of misplaced crystals. Just when he thought that the lack of sleep and the stressful last two days were just really messing with him, he passed by a large boulder and tripped over a line of some sort.

"What the…?" Jim mumbled, catching himself before he hit the floor. Before he could look back to see what, exactly, he had tripped on, he was bombarded with a half dozen small rocks falling down around him. He was ready to roll his eyes, annoyed by the prank, when the stones started pulsing in a deep, purple light out of sync with one another.

"Dwärkstones!" Jim gasped in stunned panic, knowing that it was already too late to avoid the blast. Summoning his shield, he quickly detached it from his arm guard and flung it toward Claire. "Stay back!"

"Jim?!"

Jim couldn't throw himself out of the way of the blasts completely, and when they went off, he was caught up and thrown back several feet. One of the stones had been right next to his right leg, and when it exploded, Jim felt the bones in the lower half of his leg crack and break. His cry of pain was lost in the deafening explosion, and his body tumbled head over heels across the room, slamming heavily into the opposite wall.

When the dust settled and the ringing in Jim's ears had abated enough that he could see and hear his surroundings, he struggled to his feet, gasping breathlessly in pain. He could taste blood in his mouth, and his right leg felt like it had been put through a meat grinder and then set on fire. Despite his pain and disorientation, he pushed himself up and struggled to his feet.

"Claire?!" Jim shouted, looking around frantically for his mate. He could hear Ellie wailing at the top of her lungs, and he stumbled toward the cries, ignoring the agonizing pain in his leg. "Claire, answer me!"

"We're here!" Claire gasped, her voice hoarse, but strong. Jim grunted in both pain and relief when he felt his mate fling herself against his chest, their screaming child between them. Jim's shield was shimmering weakly on Claire's back, and then it flickered, binding back to his soul, along with the armor. Without the support of his magic, his body slumped in agony. "Why would someone—?"

"Kalen," Jim growled, fury gnawing at his chest. "His scent was all over those Dwärkstones."

"But…" Claire trembled, clutching the frightened baby tighter to her chest. "He wasn't… he couldn't have been trying to—"

"I'm going to kill him," Jim snarled, but he nearly collapsed as he moved to take a step forward.

"Jim…" Claire breathed, and he could hear her heart pounding, a distressed whine building in her throat. Instead, she rocked Ellie back and forth, trying to shush her gently. Shifting the infant to her breast, she winced as Ellie latched on and suckled frantically. "Shh, shh… it's okay, Ellie. Oh, Jim… your leg!"

"I know," Jim groaned, cringing in pain. "Just… do you think you can make it back home on your own?"

Claire whimpered anxiously, her body beginning to sway as she rocked the baby. "Yes, but… what are you going to do?"

"Exactly what I said," Jim responded with a furious growl.

"No, please," Claire begged, gripping his shoulder with one hand. "Please, Jim… let's just go home, okay?"

"He wasn't playing a _game_ , Claire!" Jim snarled, pulling back gently from her grip, despite his anger. "He could have _killed_ you! He could have killed _our baby_!"

"And how is killing _him_ going to make anything better?" Claire cried, nuzzling her face into his chest. Looking up, she lifted her free hand to caress Jim's soot covered cheek. "Let's go home, let me heal your leg, and then we'll figure out what to do. Please."

Jim sighed, slumping back tiredly to lean against the boulder behind him. Releasing Claire from his arms, he held them out for the baby. "It's safe now."

Claire snorted a laugh, rolling her eyes, but she must have really needed to go because she handed the baby over without hesitation, though she had to stick a finger into the side of Ellie's mouth to break the suction that she had on her breast. Ellie started wailing in response, her little heart racing. "Miss Ellie, Mommy will be right back."

"Shh…" Jim cooed, rocking Ellie back and forth, trying to ignore the pain in his leg enough to start purring again. The sound was weak, but it soothed her cries into much quieter whines and sniffles. Claire disappeared around a corner, and Jim pecked a soft kiss to Ellie's pouting mouth. "There, now. All those loud noises hurt your ears, didn't they? They hurt Daddy's ears too… among other parts," he added in a bitter undertone. Ellie whined, tears welling up in her eyes again. "No, no, shh… Daddy's here, and Mommy will be right back. Shh…"

The sudden sound of tumbling rocks and quick feet coming from behind him made Jim whip around, snarling and baring his teeth at the incoming threat. Instead, a toddler sized green Changeling came skidding to a halt, a terrified and anxious look on his face. Jim relaxed slightly as he recognized his brother-in-law, though he cradled Ellie closer to his chest, shuffling a step back with more effort than he wished.

"I heard an explosion!" NotEnrique gasped, pacing back and forth along an invisible line, like a tiny gorilla. The little imp clearly knew to keep his distance, though he couldn't stem his worry. "And the whole market heard Claire havin' the whelp earlier, and I thought the worst just now!"

Ellie was working up to another cry, and Jim swallowed back the slightly defensive growl reverberating in his chest. Breathing deeply, Jim forced himself to relax, knowing that the little troll meant no harm. "Someone thought it would be funny to plant Dwärkstones where they knew we were likely to stumble over them."

" _What_?!" NotEnrique snarled, his hackles rising and his teeth bared as he sniffed the air. "…Kalen! Why, that _nasty, rotten, fuckin'_ —"

Ellie screamed out a loud, agitated wail, her lips turning blue with the effort, and Jim hurried to soothe her, rocking her back and forth. He hugged her close to his chest as he begin to purr again, and she quieted as she felt the vibrations against her body. NotEnrique shuffled closer hesitantly, jumping up on the boulder that Jim had previously been leaning against. He gave Jim an anxious look, glancing between him and the baby, and Jim rolled his eyes.

"Come on, then," Jim said, nodding his head and stretching out his free arm. Without further invitation, the Changeling jumped from the boulder to Jim's arm, and he brought him closer to see the baby.

"Oy, now!" NotEnrique said to Ellie in a firm, but relieved voice. "What's all these waterworks for, eh? Looks like Dad's the one who took the beatin', not _you_."

Ellie whimpered, mouthing on her fist as her wide, blue eyes took in the sight of her small, mostly naked uncle. His presence just seemed to confuse her, but at least she had stopped crying.

"There, see?" NotEnrique cooed, reaching forward to scritch under her chin after seeking permission from Jim. "Don't you worry, yeah? Uncle Enrique'll look out for ya, kid."

"I need you to stay with them for a bit," Jim confided in the Changeling in a quiet voice. "Claire's going to heal my leg, and then I need to… _speak_ with Kalen."

"If by _speak_ , you mean _disembowel_ , then I—"

"No one is disemboweling anyone," Claire said in a firm voice as she shuffled back into view. Jim stiffened, his scruff standing on end as he scented fresh blood on her.

"Are you—?"

"Normal," Claire replied, waving off his concern, though she was clearly in a great deal of pain. She leaned into his side as she reached them, and gently tried to push him back against the boulder again. "Let me heal your leg."

"You up to that, Sis?" NotEnrique asked, jumping down from Jim's arm and back to the boulder.

"I hurt like hell, and I'm exhausted, but I can handle casting a healing spell," Claire assured them with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Can't ya heal yourself, then?" NotEnrique asked, frowning as he watched his sister kneel down and place her hands on Jim's mangled and bloodied leg, the remains of his favorite cargos hanging in tatters from the knee down.

"Mm…" Claire hummed, closing her eyes in concentration as her hands began to glow with a soft, white light. Jim sighed in relief as a soft, comforting heat tingled through his leg, healing the fire that was raging in his exposed and damaged nerve endings, his shattered bones knitting back together and the ripped flesh healing over. "Funny thing about magic… the person casting it can't use it to any affect on themselves. When I use magic, I'm expending my energy and adding it to whatever or whoever I'm casting it on. So, if I try to add my own energy back into myself, it just cancels itself out."

"That sucks," NotEnrique replied with a grumpy pout. Claire laughed as the glow in her hands dissipated and she pulled them away from Jim's now perfect leg.

"Careful," Jim murmured, reaching out with his free arm to catch his mate around the waist as she wobbled slightly when she stood.

"M'fine," Claire assured him, though she leant heavily into his side, her eyelids fluttering weakly.

Jim looked to his little brother-in-law for a second, sizing him up, and then offered the baby with a sigh of reluctant resignation. "Can you carry Ellie, while I carry Claire?"

"No, I can walk…" Claire protested, but Jim ignored her as NotEnrique's little chest puffed with pride, his shoulders squared as he stood to his full height.

"You can count on me!" the changeling swore in a solemn voice, taking the baby gently from Jim's arm. Ellie huffed and gurgled as she was switched, but NotEnrique bounced her lightly, and she quieted, staring up at her uncle with wide, curious eyes. NotEnrique nuzzled the baby affectionately, cooing baby talk to her. "Aren't you a sweet, little monster? Yes, you are!"

Jim chuckled, shaking his head, and then bent to scoop Claire up in his arms, making sure that she was comfortably wrapped in her blanket. Gentle as he was, she still cringed with the movement, and he murmured a soft apology into her ear, nuzzling her neck. He walked at a steady pace back toward their cave, glancing over to keep an eye on NotEnrique and Ellie as they moved. The Changeling was exceptionally careful as he maneuvered along the path beside them, cradling the baby securely in his arms. Claire gave a silent laugh, tucking her head against Jim's chest as they listened to NotEnrique babble nonsense to his niece, while she mouthed her fist contentedly, never taking her gaze from her uncle's face.

"Hard to imagine that softie was planning our destruction a year ago," Claire teased in a loud enough voice for NotEnrique to hear. He looked up and stuck his tongue out at his sister.

"I was only followin' orders!" NotEnrique defended, a slightly affronted expression on his face. "You're lucky I grew fond o' you, Big Eyes."

Ellie let out a short cry, catching NotEnrique's attention again, and he went back to cooing at her. Jim laughed loudly as he heard his daughter's purr start up again once she was being paid attention to. "I think we're going to have one spoiled little girl, if she's already demanding attention."

"That's okay," NotEnrique said in a high, cooing voice, nuzzling the baby again. "Uncle Enrique will give youse all the attentions ya want."

Claire did not approve of Jim's less than thought out plan of attack, which literally consisted of exactly that: attack. If Kalen was smart, he wasn't sticking around to see the aftermath of his little stunt, but Jim wouldn't put it past the older troll to be too prideful to run away. As much as Jim wanted to pulverize Kalen, however, he knew that he could not allow himself to do that, as it would go against everything he had tried to stand apart from.

That didn't mean that he couldn't rough the bastard up, though. As an afterthought, he decided to leave the Amulet behind with Claire — to which Ywain protested, recognizing the threat that Jim was subjecting himself to, but relented in the end. Claire, Ellie, and NotEnrique were in far more danger without some semblance of his power than Jim, himself, was.

"Jim!" Blinky exclaimed in shock when he marched, straight backed and rigid, into the crowded pub. Jim had lost track of time in the last two days, but given the heavy amount of traffic in the Market center and the pub, he guessed that it must have been sometime in the middle of the night. At Blinky's exclamation, the pub went silent, the other occupants turning to look at him in confusion and shock. Blinky ran up to Jim, grasping his arms with all four of his hands, an anxiously worried expression on his face. "My boy! What are you doing here?! No one expected to see you for at least a week! Is everything all right?!"

"Where's Kalen?" Jim asked, shaking off Blinky's hold as gently as he could. He was looking around at the different faces staring back at him, his scruff standing on end as they registered his question and started shuffling and looking away from him uncomfortably.  
"Ah," Blinky sighed, nodding his head grimly. "So, you heard about Nomura, then?"

"I— wait, what?" Jim replied, looking back to his foster father in surprise. "What happened to Nomura?"

Blinky frowned, taking a step back to study Jim's agitated and confused demeanor. "I thought… you mean you didn't know? Then why are you looking for Kalen?"

" _What happened to Nomura_?" Jim repeated in a steady, but dangerous voice, silently demanding that someone supply him with the information.

"She's fine, Trollhunter," Ashgar — a squat and short obsidian troll, with glowing orange etchings and wide, yellow eyes — said from the bar, grunting as he set his stone mug down and turned to face Jim. "Not hurt bad or nothin' like that, but Kalen…" the elder troll glanced away and back again, clearly uncomfortable. "He and a few others thought it entertainin' to trash her cave when she was out."

" _What_?!" Jim gasped, his outrage growing. His hands were balled into fists and shaking at his sides, a low growl building in his chest.

Blinky nodded grimly, a deep frown set on his face. "Indeed. Unfortunately for both parties, she came home and caught them in the act. Given that she was outnumbered, she came out the worse in the scuffle, but she gave it her all. She didn't make a formal complaint, but I couldn't ignore his continued aggression. I convened with the elders yesterday, and it was decided that Kalen was to be banished. He left as soon as night fell, yesterday evening. Nomura won't name the others involved, but Kalen's banishment should act as sufficient enough of a warning."

Jim scoffed, shaking his head as he gave a sarcastic laugh. "Of course. More than enough time."

"Enough time for what?"

Jim sighed, still angry, but deflating in a combination of disappointment and relief as he realized that he was not going to be able to pound Kalen into the floor. Squaring his shoulders again, he looked around at the gathered trolls. Most of the trolls present were friendly, while the few who were left were tolerant, if not overly welcoming. In a back corner, dark except for the soft, purple glow of a small crystal, sat two trolls who were actively trying to avoid catching Jim's gaze. Addressing everyone in a loud voice, he tried to maintain the little amount of calm he'd managed to wrangle back, even if he couldn't keep the protective growl from vibrating along with his words. "I am the Trollhunter, and that means that I will protect all of you, _fight_ for all of you — _all of you_ — but don't think for one second that I will tolerate attacks made against my family. So, pass this along: if _anyone_ gets the bright idea to do something as stupid as trash someone's home, or rough them up in any way, or _plant Dwärkstones where you know an unsuspecting person might trip over them_ ," at this last bit, his voice rose, his growl turning into a harsh snarl. "…then I will not hesitate to protect _them_ , even if it's from another member of this pack. You can take that however you want, but consider it a warning all the same."

"Dwärkstones?!" Blinky gasped, his six eyes widening in horror as he connected the dots. The blue troll's bottom two eyes glanced down to the tattered remains of Jim's cargos, hanging in shreds below the knees. "Great grumbly gruesomes! Claire! Is she—?!"

"She's fine," Jim replied, relaxing slightly. The two trolls who had been sitting in the dark corner slipped out of the back entrance, exchanging anxious expressions and shooting Jim half nervous and half guilty looks. Jim ignored them, addressing his foster father and those few who were still listening in curiosity instead. "…but if I hadn't been with her… God, Blink, she never would have known that they were there. I smelled something off, but I only found them because I fell over the damned trip line. They blew up almost instantly."

"Ah, Jim," Blinky sighed, squeezing his hands together anxiously. "I am so sorry, my boy. If I had known—"

"I know, Blink," Jim interrupted, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose in exhausted frustration. "I know. Hopefully, no one will be stupid enough to try anything like this again. Protector or not, I'm going to protect Claire and Ellie first."

Blinky's eyes winked out of sync with each other, and then he grinned widely. "Ah… Ellie, hm? Is that my granddaughter's name?"

Jim grinned in response, his chest filling with love and pride. "Eleanor Juliet Lake — Ellie, for short."

Blinky was practically vibrating in excitement, his hands grasping each other even tighter together. Reining himself in, he took another step back, silently giving Jim the room to leave, knowing that it was going against all of his instincts to be away from his mate and whelp so soon after the birth. "Let me know when she's ready to receive visitors."

Jim nodded, smiling lightly. He turned and left back through the entryway, ignoring the feeling of eyes following after him, the sounds of gossip picking back up as soon as he cleared the entrance. He forced himself to turn left, instead of right, when he reached the fork in the paths that lead to different areas of the Outskirt. Going right would take him where he desperately wanted to go — back to his own home, where his mate and newborn were waiting for him — but left took him to the cave that Nomura had claimed as her own. She had also decided to live outside of the hustle and bustle of the Market center; Jim had honestly never expected her to even stay with the pack at all. Even though she had lost the ability to change into a human, she could still traverse the sunlight in her troll form, as could any of the Changelings. This gave her slightly more maneuverability within the outside world than the rest of them, and he would have thought she would want to build a home separate from New Trollmarket. Contrarily, she had seemingly taken a fondness to Jim, Claire, and a few rare trolls within the pack and decided to stick around.

Jim heard cursing and — oddly — sniffling before he saw the wreckage before him. Kalen and his goons had really gone all out; a front wall had been broken down and shattered, lying in rubble all over the path leading to the pseudo front door of Nomura's cave. The door itself — another pallet, like his, that she had decorated with an intricately painted copy of Van Gogh's _Starry Night_ — was missing entirely. Nomura, sans her remaining scimitar, stood just inside the entrance to her home, rubbing angrily at her face with one hand, while her other arm lay limp and awkward at her side, her already weak shoulder having clearly been dislocated again. She was assessing a pile of broken glass and porcelain, the evidence of tears staining her face.

"Nomura?" Jim said in a quiet voice. He had tried to make his steps loud, so as not to startle her, but she still jumped when he spoke, her good arm swinging back automatically, her hand curled into a fist. Jim threw his hands up defensively, tilting his head slightly to expose his throat. "It's me! It's okay! It's me!"

"Little Gynt…" Nomura sighed, relaxing as she recognized him, and then her expression turned furious. "Who fetched you?! I told them to—"

"No one," Jim assured her, lowering his hands to his sides, and gesturing to his ruined pants. "Kalen paid us a visit after you. I went looking for him, and the trolls in the pub told me what happened."

Nomura's watery eyes widened in horror as she took in his appearance and words. "Oh, Deya! That explosion! Oh, God…"

"We're all fine," Jim tried to assure her, frowning in confusion at the guilty look on her face. "I took the brunt of it, but Claire had enough energy to heal me."

Nomura's expression twisted guiltily. "They were mine."

"Huh?" Jim asked, not expecting the the emotion that the former mercenary was exuding.

"The Dwärkstones," she replied, her voice hoarse and whispering as she looked way from him. "They were mine."

Jim was silent as he processed this, and then stepped forward and placed a gentle hand on Nomura's slack shoulder, careful not to apply too much pressure. "It's not your fault."

The magenta troll jerked back, cringing. "No, I… I should have…"

"Nomura, they stole them from you," Jim said, letting his hand fall away, but taking another step forward. "You couldn't have known what they were going to use them for."

"I should have gone after them!" Nomura growled, stomping her hoof in frustration. "I was just so… so… _humiliated_!"

Jim watched as she hid her face in her good hand, and his heart twisted. "You have no reason to feel—"

"I've killed dozens of people!" Nomura shouted in a hoarse voice, and Jim jumped back slightly in surprise. "Trolls, humans, other Changelings… but the one time it would have been justified, I just… let them have at me. I…"

"Nomura…" Jim sighed, shaking his head. "That would have only made the situation worse, and you know that."

They stood in silence for a minute, and then Nomura sighed again, looking up to meet Jim's eyes. "Come in; I have something for your whelp."

Jim blinked, surprised, but Nomura didn't give him the chance to hesitate as she turned and disappeared further inside of her cave. He followed after her quickly, stumbling over rubble and broken trinkets; Jim recognized the shattered remains of an antique porcelain theater mask, the laughing and crying expressions broken into a thousand pieces at his feet. Somewhere from the pile of broken glass came the familiar sound of a dying music box cylinder.

"I had it tucked away," Nomura's voice came from further back and out of view. Jim paused, not wanting to invade what was left of the woman's personal space. There was the sound of light and heavy objects being shuffled around, and then Nomura rounded the corner, a folded blue cloth clutched in her good hand. "It's not new, but…"

She held it out to him, and Jim took it, realizing as he felt the fuzzy material that it was a small blanket. He looked up from the blanket and back to it and back up at Nomura again in surprise. "I…"

"I know, I know," she said, rolling her eyes and shuffling her feet as she avoided his gaze. "Blue is for boys, and your whelp is a girl, but—"

"Thank you, Nomura," Jim breathed, taking the woman by surprise as he stepped forward and pulled her into a light hug. "It doesn't matter what color it is." Nomura was frozen for a moment, but relented and hugged him back lightly, clearly uncomfortable. Jim had mercy on her and pulled back, hugging the baby blanket to his chest. As he breathed in, Jim noticed a slightly familiar scent on the blanket, and frowned slightly. "This… smells like Draal."

Nomura smiled sadly, her eyes fixed fondly on the blanket in his arms. "That's because it once held his son."

Jim's heart lurched, and his breath caught in shock. Of course, he had known that Draal and Nomura had been lovers in the past — and now that Jim knew from experience that trolls mated for life, he realized the true extent of their relationship — but he had never known that they had had a child together. In equivalency to a human lifespan, Draal and Nomura were really only in their early twenties, meaning that they must have been even younger when this had occurred. "Wh-where…?"

"Gone," Nomura replied, her eyes hardening as she squared her shoulders. "Bular made sure of that."

"Did Draal know?" Jim couldn't help but ask, swallowing against a pained whine rising in his chest.

Nomura chuckled darkly, her eyes meeting his. They were sad, but unwavering. "Did you know Claire was ready to conceive?"

Jim cringed, his face heating in embarrassment. "Yeah, I did."

"I told you once that I knew what it was like to be unable to hide forever," Nomura said in a quiet voice. She reached across herself and grabbed her arm, forcefully shoving it back into the socket without so much as a grunt. Jim cringed, his gut twisting, but remained silent as she continued with her story. "I had integrated fully into troll society and had been out of contact with other Changelings, Bular, and his minions entirely for nearly half a century. I thought I'd escaped it all. I thought I was safe. Draal and I met during that time, and we fell in love. When he asked me to be his mate, I… I had to tell him, Little Gynt. I was born a full blooded troll, but that doesn't mean that I still am. He deserved to know the truth." Nomura swallowed thickly, her gaze drifting back to the blanket in Jim's arms. "We were young… Kanjigar disapproved for that reason, but I'm sure he would have turned me to rubble had he known what I was. I knew that, but Draal still deserved to know. Imagine my surprise and elation when he told me that he didn't care what I was!" Her voice was thick as she gave a laugh, blinking a few tears free. "He swore to never tell a soul, and even after… well, he kept his promise."

"What happened?" Jim whispered, one of his fangs digging anxiously into his upper lip.

"I couldn't hide forever," Nomura explained simply. "I took advantage of my Changeling abilities for a day, to go out into the human world and get a few things that I wanted for the baby. I didn't know who it was, but he recognized me and somehow got word to Bular; he found and cornered me before I could escape. In a way, that was a good thing; if either of them had followed me back to Trollmarket, it likely would have fallen before you were even born."

"Nomura…"

"Please, Little Gynt…" Nomura held up her hand to stem his words. "I don't need your pity."

"I'm not—"

"I know," Nomura sighed, shuffling from foot to foot. "But Bular had no idea that I was mated to the son of the Trollhunter, and there was no way I was going to let him know that I had that close of a connection to Kanjigar… so, I had to just go along with Bular's assumptions. He assumed that my baby was half human, and so I told him that I'd been biding my time amongst the humans. I had no choice but to go where Bular commanded me… which, of course, meant that I had to make Draal think that I had betrayed him. It broke my heart, but I couldn't put him and Kanjigar in danger. I… I had planned to somehow get the baby back to Draal when he was born; whatever he thought of me, I knew he would still love our son."

"Bular found the baby?" Jim guessed, his hands shaking in anger. Gunmar and Bular had single handedly ruined so many lives.

"As you've experienced recently, giving birth is painful and loud," Nomura laughed, shaking her head. "And terrifying when you're doing alone. I was too weak to defend us when Bular came…" Nomura trailed off, her gaze distant as she relived her old pain, and then her eyes hardened, her mouth twisting into a hard frown. "…which makes Kalen's theft and betrayal all the worse. It's obvious that he meant for Claire to stumble onto them, and he would have known that she would have had her babe in arms at the time, and—"

"Nomura," Jim interrupted her growing rant by grabbing her hand in his, squeezing lightly. "It's all right; he _didn't_ hurt Claire or Ellie, and he's gone now."

Nomura's expression scrunched up. " _Ellie_? Really? Well, she's your kid, I guess."

Jim rolled his eyes and gave the woman a sarcastically patient look. "Do you want me to send Enrique over to help you?"

"That little weasel," Nomura growled lightly, letting go of his hand and rolling her own eyes. "Doesn't he know that the first week is the most important time for the parents and the whelp to bond?"

"Granted, his interruption came _after_ we were nearly blown up," Jim replied, fidgeting at the reminder that his mate and whelp were currently vulnerable without him. NotEnrique was feisty, but would never be able to fight off any threats on his own.

"Send him over," Nomura sighed in a defeated voice. "I doubt he'll be much help, but if nothing else, he'll be out of your hair, and you can concentrate on what new parents are supposed to be concentrating on." Her eyes became serious once more, and she stared him down intensely. "Remember, the first week is the most important for bonding. I don't know about a whelp that's mostly human, but for trolls, if they don't have that bonding time, they can grow despondent and will fail to thrive."

"What?" Jim gasped, reeling with that information. "Why? What about whelps with only one parent?"

"I'm sure you've seen how exceedingly rare that is," she replied, shrugging slightly at his nod. "I don't think I've ever met someone who didn't have both of their parents in the beginning. Not a troll, at least."

Swallowing against the sudden swell of increased anxiousness that was rising from his stomach, Jim nodded once, and then turned without another word. Now racing down the path, Jim tried to stamp down his panic, reminding himself that he'd only been away from them for about an hour. Aside from that, Nomura was right: Ellie _was_ mostly human, so even if she had some troll instincts, he prayed that they would not be as strong as a full troll's, or even his own. He slowed as he neared the entrance to his cave, but came to a skidding halt as he rounded the corner only to spot NotEnrique squatting outside of the door, rubbing his diapered butt and glaring at the door as if he had just been tossed out of it.

"Don't tell me that you annoyed Claire to the point of kicking you out already?" Jim chuckled lightly, the grumpy look on the little imp's face easing a little bit of his panic.

NotEnrique whipped around, his eyes wide and slightly frightened. "Jim! Er… before you go in there and get surprised, try to remember that she's your mother, and ya shouldn't kill he—"

" _What_?!"

Jim raced past NotEnrique, wrenching open the door so hard that the makeshift hinges that it was bolted to ripped out of the rock wall. Trying to remember his brother-in-law's warning, he repeated _It's Mom. It's Mom. It's Mom_ over and over again in his head, though his instincts took over the moment that he caught his mother's scent so closely intermingled with that of his mate's and child's. Under any other circumstance, it wouldn't have bothered him, but he didn't want _anyone_ around his family when they were so vulnerable — it already rankled him that NotEnrique had interjected himself, however necessary his temporary presence had been.

"…bara, please, we're not up to visitors yet."

"I'm a doctor, Claire. I'm here to help. I can understand why you two were reluctant to go the hospital, but you should have called me! I don't know what kind of hippie dippy nonsense you two read to make you think giving birth without a doctor's supervision _in a cave_ was okay, but—"

"You don't understand—"

"Let me see the baby. You seem all right for now, so I'll examine her fir—"

Jim saw red as he briefly took in the conversation happening on the other side of the curtain that separated his and Claire's bedroom from the living area of the cave, and then he was ripping back the curtain with a vicious snarl. His mother screamed and jumped back, startled by the sudden entrance, but 'back' for her meant that she was now closer to Claire and the baby.

"Jim!" Claire gasped from her place lying on her side on the bed, Ellie cuddled against her chest, beneath their blanket. All Jim could see of the babe was the tuft of black and white hair that was sticking out like duckling fuzz from the edge of the blanket. "Wait, honey! Don't—!"

But it was too late; Jim was in complete Protective Daddy Mode, and his mother was an inadvertent threat. The only things that stopped him from taking Barbara's head clean off was the mantra that he was repeating in his head and the fact that Claire had his Amulet, to which he mentally resisted calling upon. Before he had even realized what he'd done, he had his mother pinned to the floor beneath him, his hands wrapped around her throat. The woman struggled briefly beneath him, but stopped after only a few seconds, tilting her head back to expose her throat. Even this was not enough, and he snarled in her face, baring his teeth threateningly as he crouched over her. His hands were merely caging her throat, not applying any pressure, but it kept her from moving.

"Jim…" Claire murmured in a sweet and quiet voice from behind him, but he ignored her, not daring to take his eyes from the perceived threat lying prone beneath him. "Jim, it's okay. We're okay. Your mom doesn't understand; we're not in any danger."

Jim growled, his teeth still bared slightly, though he was beginning to come back to himself and the snarl was melting from his expression quickly. He pressed his forehead to his mother's, ignoring the way she cringed back, her eyes squeezed shut in terror. He took in her scent, noting with relief that neither Claire's nor Ellie's scents were on Barbara in any way, meaning that she hadn't touched either of them yet. With effort, he released his hold on the redheaded woman beneath him, and shuffled back, crouched and protective in front of his little family.

"Leave."

Barbara sat up, shaken, but still angry, if not more so than before. "I will not! They need to go through an examination by a medical professional, and—"

"Barbara," Claire begged, and Jim felt her small, warm hand rest lightly on his shoulder — a comfort and a warning. "Please go home. I promise that we're fine. We want to be alone with our baby for awhile. All these interruptions are just confusing for her."

Jim had to wonder in the back of his mind — _way_ in the back, because his rational mind was currently locked up so tightly that he had been surprised that he'd managed to spit the one word out — if stubbornness ran in their family, or if that was just the redhead in her. All the same, when she rose quickly to her feet and took an insistent step forward, he moved to block her advance, snarling again.

"Tch!" Barbara clicked under her tongue, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "Jim, you stop this nonsense right now! You're acting like a—"

"Troll," Claire interrupted her mother-in-law's angry tirade. She was leaning heavily against Jim's back now, and he could feel the weakness in her trembling body, and he knew that, between all that had happened and the magic she had expended already, her energy was dwindling quickly. "That's because he _is_ mostly troll, Barbara. Jim's not going to let you near us right now, and he'll be in agony if he hurts you without meaning to because you're being stubborn. He knows how to take care of us."

As if to agree with her mother, Ellie let out a weak cry from her place in the middle of the bed, where Claire had safely left her. Barbara jumped a little at the sound, and Jim felt Claire move away from him, cooing soft comforts to the baby as she continued to cry. Barbara chewed on her lip nervously, her eyes flicking between Jim's aggressively protective stance and his mate and baby behind him. He could scent the salt of her tears before he saw them, and while he felt terrible for them, he couldn't force himself to relax.

"Okay," Barbara whispered, nodding slightly, her tears spilling over. She took a step back, her eyes downcast. "Okay. I… just… call me, okay?"

"Shh, Shh," Claire was still trying to soothe Ellie, whose cries were soft, but insistent. "We'll call, I promise. _Please_ , Barbara — you need to go."

Barbara nodded again, and Jim watched tensely as the woman gripped the charm dangling from her wrist in the opposite hand and squeezed. A moment later, a flash of green light filled the room and her presence vanished. Jim had fallen back into his natural squat during the standoff and was still frozen in it for a few seconds longer, his hackles risen, teeth bared, a low growl reverberating in his chest.

"Jim, help me," Claire's voice broke through to him, her tone tired and begging. The baby was still crying, and Jim shook himself loose from the instincts that were keeping him rooted, turning back toward the bed and his mate. She was naked and pale, trying to offer her breast to the baby, but Ellie turned her face away, her expression scrunched up as she gave weak, coughing cries. With a thrill of fear, he noted that the infant was just as pale as her mother, her lips slightly blue, and Nomura's warnings flung themselves against the forefront if his brain.

"Here," Jim leapt to his exhausted mate's side, a whine building in his throat. He ripped his clothes off hurriedly, and then gently took the baby from Claire, lying them down together on the bed. He shuffled as close to his mate as he possibly could and curled his body around hers, Ellie's little body trapped in the protective space between their chests, her bare skin touching theirs. Her skin was cooler than it should have been. Jim pulled the blanket over their bodies and heads, trapping their shared heat inside. "See if she'll nurse now."

Claire nodded, shifting her body slightly, so that her nipple could press against Ellie's lips. The baby's cries were starting to weaken, turning into sniffles, but the sound of her baby in distress had caused Claire's milk to let down, and it was already beginning to bead up on her nipple. Ellie felt it against her mouth and, this time, opened her mouth and latched on, though Jim frowned as he watched the baby nurse, her suckle weak. White fluid welled at the corners of her mouth and slid down her chin.

"She's not eating," Claire panicked, gently wiping away the milk spilling over from their child's mouth. Ellie let go of the nipple, turning her head away again, coughing and spitting up what little milk she had eaten.

"She's cold," Jim whispered, leaning down to nuzzle his baby, licking her neck and face to stimulate her. She scrunched up her face, trying to turn away, but Jim continued, moving down to lick heavily at her belly. He pressed one hand between his mate's body to palm the baby's back, rubbing insistently to create some friction.

Jim's purposeful attempts to aggravate his daughter had the intended result, and she kicked her feet, her arms waving in the air, her little hands balled up into fists. Ellie let out a loud wail, full of strength and anger, and Jim relaxed, relieved, as he eased his movements and looked up to see that the baby's lips were pink again, her face scrunched up and red. Sighing in relief, he nuzzled Ellie's little belly gently and lovingly.

"Is she okay?" Claire asked, and Jim could hear her heart pounding, his own matching her pace. "What happened? Did she choke? Is she—"

"I think she's okay now," Jim assured his panicked mate, softly meeting her lips with his own. He didn't attempt a deep kiss, but it was slow and sweet, and he felt her body beginning to relax. "She needs both of us. I'm so sorry, baby. You were right; I shouldn't have left."

Claire let out a choked sob, nuzzling her face into his neck, her arms tightening around Ellie, who was now crying en force. "I'm just so tired!"

"Shh…" Jim nuzzled her back, kissing up and down her neck and cheek. "I know, I know. She'll settle, I promise. I'm not going anywhere."

Ellie's cries were quieting again, short and high pitched whines replacing them, and she squirmed frantically in their arms. Jim leaned back slightly to give the baby room to maneuver, and they watched as she turned and snuffled into Claire's chest, mouthing for a nipple.

"Oh, _now_ you want to eat," Claire half laughed, half sobbed. She cradled Ellie closer, wincing as the baby latched on and suckled hard. Claire pressed her face back into Jim's neck, and he could feel the weakness and exhaustion radiating off of her. "I'm afraid to go to sleep now."

"Don't be," Jim whispered back, tightening his arms around his girls. "I'm here. I'll stay awake and look after you both."

"You need to sleep too," Claire replied feebly, her lips brushing against his throat as she spoke. "You've been awake for days."

Jim chuckled, gently kissing his wife's tear streaked cheek. "Honey, you _gave birth_. All I did was rub your back, say some encouraging shit, and make sure the baby didn't hit the floor when she practically flew out."

Claire laughed, her whole body shaking with the force of it, and he felt her nip lightly at his neck. "I love you."

"I love you too," Jim said, nuzzling her neck and then leaning down slightly to nuzzle into the baby's soft, fuzzy hair. He smiled at the soft noises that she made as she ate, the sound oddly endearing. "Thank you."

"…hm?" Claire hummed, her body beginning to relax into sleep against him. She blinked tiredly up at him when he leaned back to meet her gaze. "Why are you thanking me? I didn't do anything."

"Claire…" Jim shook his head slightly, laughing incredulously. "You gave up everything you knew, everything that was important to you, the future that you had planned for yourself, the _sun_ … all for me. And then you give me a beautiful, amazing child on top of all of that? _Thank you_ isn't enough, but it's all I've got."

"You're such a dork, my Romeo," Claire laughed, her eyes fluttering closed, a smile curling the corner of her mouth. "I wasn't giving up anything. We made our own family together, just the two of us. Besides… I get sunburnt easily, so becoming nocturnal was the better option for me. I also distinctly remember your _contribution_ to the baby making."

Jim laughed again, but Claire had apparently used up the last of her energy, and she was nodding off against his shoulder and didn't respond. He grinned and hugged his girls closer, loving the feel of the little body between himself and his mate, her skin warming up as she shared her parents' body heat. He wished that they could stay that way forever, but he knew that was impossible; there were too many dangers looming far too close for comfort, and he was the only one who could face them. Claire was a powerful sorceress, but her priorities had changed now; he couldn't allow her to put herself in serious danger now that Ellie was born. She may have needed both of them in the beginning, but if it came down to it, she needed her mother more than him. Jim had no intention of not taking caution, however; he wanted to see his children grow up, and he wanted to be there for them. He also did _not_ want Ellie — or any of her future siblings — to inherit his Amulet and all of the responsibilities therein. He wondered if maybe Kanjigar had feared the same for Draal…

Thee errant thought twisted Jim's heart with grief, and he leant down to nuzzle his baby's hair again, breathing in her cinnamon and milk scent. _No_ — he was never going to let her become a Trollhunter, even by choice. She was too innocent, too precious, and he would never let her be hardened in the same manner that he been forced to. And he would kill anyone who threatened that innocence — especially boys. In fact, Jim decided, she was not allowed to date until she was two hundred, _at least_. Maybe one fifty, if a good boy came around. Granted, Jim was a good a boy, and yet here he was: barely 17, married, cradling his wife and newborn daughter in his arms.

Definitely two hundred.

 _To be continued..._

✯ **REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!** ✯


	25. Chapter Twenty-Five

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

✿ _Another big chapter! Enjoy! :)_

 **Chapter** **Tw** **enty-Five**

"So, let me get this straight," Claire said to Jim in a slightly impatient voice. She was absentmindedly rocking four-day-old Ellie back and forth as she stood by the carved stone counter of their kitchen. "He lives on the East Coast, but wants to meet you at your mom's in California?"

Jim sighed, adding strips of venison to the pan that he was working over the fire. "Yeah."

"Jim, that sounds…"

"Like a trap, I know," he said, finishing his mate's thought. He wasn't happy about the situation either, but… "But I trust Strickler, and Strickler trusts this guy. We won't be gone long."

Claire frowned, looking down at the sleeping baby in her arms. "I think it's too early."

"I think so too," Jim agreed, his eyes also falling to the baby in his wife's arms. She was so small, and while she was not exactly _weak_ , she wasn't the strongest either. Granted, he hadn't really been around many babies in his life — human, troll, or otherwise — so all he had to go on was instinct, and his instincts were screaming at him to keep them home and safe. "But I _have_ to meet him, and I'm not going to risk Ellie by making you and her stay behind."

"I wonder what it is that makes troll babies so dependent on both parents?" Claire murmured quietly, studying her daughter closely. "Do you think it has something to do with magic?"

"Probably," Jim replied, shuffling the pan as the meat began to sizzle. "Our souls are so intermingled… maybe she needs the time to anchor the magic of her soul into ours… or the other way around. Nomura didn't go into detail, and I was too panicked to ask."

"Can't he wait?" Claire asked desperately. "He said that he didn't know where Usurna was, so what's the hurry?"

"Apparently, he said he's waited enough," Jim explained, reiterating the phone conversation that he'd had with Strickler only an hour before. His contact was nervous, worried that his information was putting him at risk — which, technically, it was. If an enemy discovered that this guy knew something as important as he said it was, and he was planning on snitching to the Trollhunter, he was as good as dead. "And if he has information on whoever or whatever is _behind_ all of this — including Usurna — then we have to know what _he_ knows."

"But we'd be leaving New Trollmarket undefended," she worried, and Jim noted that the more anxious she became, the closer she hugged Ellie.

"Merlin is here," he replied, laughing a little bit. "He's a lazy jerk, but he _is_ an all-powerful sorcerer. He can defend the Market for a few hours, and if anything _does_ go wrong, we're one portal away from being back."

"…what about your mom?"

Jim sighed again, frowning. Instead of answering right away, he threw some chopped root vegetables into the pan with the meat, using the juice and fat from the meat to sauté them. His mother hadn't called, and they hadn't called her; truthfully, he was still half furious with her, though he understood where her misplaced authoritative concern originated from. He couldn't exactly tell her that her doctoring was actually more of a danger in this case. This was the same woman who hadn't spoken to him for two whole months when he refused to tell her why he'd been found unconscious in the woods — she was stubborn and could hold a grudge like no one's business. "Just… don't let her, or anyone, try to hold Ellie."

Claire snorted an incredulous laugh. "Don't worry about that — they'll have to find a way to detach her from my chest first."

Jim chuckled, shaking his head. Ellie nursed at least every other hour, and even if she wasn't actively eating, she wanted to be attached to her mother; he was afraid that those hectic first few hours after her birth had traumatized her somehow. Even when he held her, she clung to him, mouthing whatever part of his skin that she was resting against. When they passed her between them, even if she had been sleeping, she would immediately jerk awake and scream until she was attached to one of them again. Needless to say, they were both worried, and exhausted, and would much rather cocoon themselves in their cave for a month longer than portal back across the country to have a meeting with a man they didn't know about a subject that could destroy everything.

"Mom's probably going to be giving me the silent treatment, anyway," Jim admitted, both angered and saddened by the thought. Still, he knew that she would accept his cooking under any circumstance, so he made sure that the meal he was trying to prepare — however rustic — didn't burn.

"I don't get why she's having such a hard time with this," Claire said, finally ceasing her rocking and coming over to Jim's side. She moved to sit on the floor in front of the fire, next to him, and he encircled one arm around her waist to help guide her down, watching her pained expression in concern. Ellie wasn't the only one he was worried about leaving home too early — Claire was still in pain from the birth; as her body readjusted and healed itself, she still had the occasional contraction and cramping, which would sneak up on her randomly. While she hadn't torn, she was still bleeding, weak, and shaky, and Jim did not want her leaving their home at all, but it was a moot point. _He_ had to go, and Ellie needed both of her parents with her, which meant that she and Claire were more or less forced to go along with him.

"She's a doctor," Jim said simply, shrugging and leaning forward to press a soft kiss to his wife's forehead. She was chilled and clammy, and he cursed the timing of all of this. "…and it's partially my fault too."

"You did great!" Claire protested, nuzzling his neck lovingly. "What else did she expect us to—"

"No, I…" Jim shook his head, struggling for words as he kept half his thoughts and actions on the meal he was preparing. "I thought we had a while more… I hadn't told Mom about what was going to happen when you went into labor yet, so she probably just thinks that I was being stupid and irresponsible. A lot of doctors — her included — don't look highly on people who take the _holistic_ approach to healthcare. She thinks it's hippie stuff."

"She did say something like that," Claire replied with a thoughtful hum in her voice. "I guess I can see her point, but… she should have trusted me when I said we were fine. Maybe Ellie would be calmer, if she hadn't…"

"Being nearly caught up in an explosion might have had something to do with that too," Jim said with a dark chuckle. He gave the pan one more shake over the fire and then took it off, gently dumping the contents into an insulated traveling container. After snapping the lid on, he put the container in his messenger bag and pulled out the magic charm that Merlin had given them when they had first settled New Trollmarket. It was identical to the ones that Barbara and Strickler carried, and would allow them to portal to either of them in the same way they could make portals to Jim or Claire. They had yet to use it, and Jim was never very confident when using magical objects, other than the Amulet; instead, he offered the gem to Claire, holding out an arm to trade her for the baby.

Claire smirked, shaking her head in amusement. "You'd rather hold a screaming baby than activate a magic charm?"

"Yes," Jim nodded seriously, and Claire laughed as she took the charm from him.

"Oh, Great Trollhunter, where would we be without your gallant bravery?" she said sarcastically. He laughed, reaching for Ellie, and Claire carefully transferred the baby to him. Even as slow and careful as they were moving, as soon as Ellie's face was no longer tucked in the warm crook of her mother's neck, she jerked awake with a choking gasp and began screaming, her little heart pounding.

"Shh, shh…" Jim hushed, rocking the infant back and forth and bouncing her lightly in his arms. He lifted her higher against his chest, resting her head on his shoulder. She gripped his shirt tightly in her little fists, crying and whining until she found a patch of skin that she could mouth on. The feeling was a little weird the first few times that she had done this, but he'd since gotten used to the warm and slimy sensation of the baby's mouth on his flesh. She'd gathered that Claire was the only one that she was getting food from, so she no longer tried to suck on his skin; however, no matter who was holding her, she wanted to be able to taste their skin, and would cry until she could. She would spit pacifiers out and had no tolerance for a bottle — they had thought maybe she would calm herself if she realized that she could be held by her father and fed at the same time, but she would have none of it. "Daddy's got you, Miss Ellie. Shh…"

Ellie whimpered against his shoulder, a weak purr beginning to vibrate in her chest. Claire and Jim shared a worried look, but they had no time to debate further. The longer they put this off, the more danger everyone was in; they needed to know what Strickler's contact knew and start planning what to do about it.

"On three," Claire murmured, gripping the charm tightly in her fist. Jim felt the magic building in the object slowly, and Claire placed her free hand against Ellie's back, rubbing gently. "One, two, thr—"

The magic burst before Claire finished her count, a bright blue light surrounding them. A rushing sensation shot through Jim's stomach briefly, like he'd missed a step going down the stairs, but then the light dissipated, seemingly sinking back into Claire's fist and the charm held within it. When the light cleared, they were kneeling in the middle of his mother's living room, Strickler standing across the room, speaking with Barbara and another troll.

Ellie _screamed_.

"Oh, Deya's grace!" the mystery troll exclaimed, jumping like a nervous cat. His brown eyes were wide, his facial structure nearly identical to a human's, save for one lone lower fang emerging from his mouth on the left side, not unlike Jim's own teeth, though Jim had both. His skin was a deep blue, soft-looking blonde hair crowing his head in a casually messy cut. His ears were elven, and sticking through his hair were two black horns on either side of his head, growing back and curled around like a ram's. His body was tall, thin, slightly muscular, and very human-like — also quite similar to Jim's — and he was wearing casual clothing that consisted of working jeans, a loose, white t-shirt, and hiking boots. Behind him, a long and thin tail with a tuft of blonde hair on the end was swishing and curling in the air as if to wave hello.

Jim felt a shock go through him that had nothing to do with magic or his panicking infant as he realized that he was looking at a Changeling who was very clearly born of the Huldufólk. He had never met another like him, and it was slightly disconcerting.

"Ellie, Ellie, shh…" Claire cooed, ignoring the others in the room as she dropped the charm in her hand and used both of her palms to rub the baby's back. Jim shook himself from his distraction and lifted his free hand to gently brush his daughter's cheek with his thumb. Her waving fists caught his thumb and then she was gumming it, whimpering and whining in the back of her throat, heavy tears cascading down her red cheeks.

"Oh, is she…?!" Barbara gasped, automatically taking two steps forward, and then freezing in place as Jim snarled, a deep warning growl rattling in his chest.

"It's too early for her to be out of our nest," Claire explained, her voice stiff and her expression slightly annoyed. She wouldn't turn to meet Barbara's concerned gaze. "But, obviously, we had no choice. So, could we please get this over with quickly?"

"You didn't say anything about the delay having anything to do with a new whelp!" the Huldrekall exclaimed to Strickler, nervously backing away from Jim and Claire.

"You said you wanted to pass the information to the Trollhunter as soon as possible," Strickler replied simply, shrugging in a nonchalant way. "You wanted to meet him in person."

"Hah!" the man scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Fuck this. I'd rather deal with the devil than get near a mate guarding troll with a fresh whelp!"

"Look," Jim growled, standing to his feet. He was taller than the Huldrekall in front of him by half a head, and he glared harshly at the nervous troll. "Obviously, we wouldn't be here if this wasn't important — and yeah, this is making my instincts go crazy — but I _am_ here, and I'm willing to listen to what you have to say. So long as you don't come near my mate and whelp, I'm not going to lose it and turn you to rubble."

"Yeah, right," the Changeling shook his head, laughing nervously. "You just bared your teeth at your own mother! How am I supposed to trust that you—?!"

"Anson!" Strickler growled, smacking the blue troll around the back of his head. "If he's got enough control to string sentences together, no one here is in any danger. Just don't get close to Claire or the baby — speaking of which, Barbara: please step back, honey."

Barbara stood frozen for another few seconds, and Jim watched the silent debate behind her eyes, a slight snarl curling the corner of his mouth up. After a moment, she bowed her head slightly and took two steps back. The protective urge crashing over him and rushing through his tense muscles and pulsing veins eased slightly as his mother backed off and the two Changelings retained their distance, and the snarl melted from his face. Without turning his back to the others in the room, he offered Ellie back to Claire, and she took the baby gently. The infant started screaming again, and the others cringed at the sound, Anson taking another nervous step backward.

"Shh, mi amor," Claire crooned as she took Ellie into her arms and tucked her into the sling that she had strung over her shoulder and across her chest. Claire shifted the bundle of screaming baby around, hiding her from view. After a few seconds of moving around, Ellie's cries ceased and Jim heard her suckling. Claire must have maneuvered her clothing and the sling so that the baby could nurse without her being exposed. "There now, love. Mommy and Daddy are here."

"Claire, honey, why don't you and I go in the bedroom, so you can—" Barbara started, holding her hand out to Claire, palm up, her voice soft.

"No, no, Barb," Strickler interrupted before Jim or Claire could say anything, stepping up behind his girlfriend and placing his hands gently on her shoulders. "The first couple of weeks are very important for troll whelps, and they need to be in the presence of both parents at all times. The fact that she's out of her nest far too early is stressful enough on her; it'll be worse if she's separated from either Claire _or_ Jim."

Barbara frowned, biting her lip. "It's only upstairs…"

"We're fine, Barbara," Claire assured her mother-in-law, beginning to rock her body side to side absentmindedly. "Thank you."

Suddenly, there was a heavy knocking at the door and everyone jumped in surprise, except for Barbara, who was looking a little guilty.

"I'll get it," she said, gently slipping out from her boyfriend's loose hands and walking toward the front door. Jim tensed, a growl building in his chest as he backed himself and Claire further back into the house, his body blocking her and the baby from view.

"What the hell?!" Anson muttered, shooting nervous looks between Strickler, Jim, and the front door. He backed himself into the corner, effectively hiding himself from whoever was at the door. "Does your human think this is some kind of _dinner party_?!"

Strickler shrugged weakly, his expression just as bewildered as he, too, moved to a corner of the room that couldn't be seen from the door. Jim shuffled back, guiding himself and Claire into the kitchen and slamming the dividers above the bar closed to hide their presence just as Barbara opened the door. Jim and Claire couldn't see who it was now, but they stayed quiet and listened.

"Oh, Javier, Ophelia! Please, come in," they heard Barbara say in a perfect hostess voice. Jim and Claire shared wide-eyed, nervous looks and Ellie whimpered against her mother's breast, reacting to her parents' distress.

"Shh…" Claire soothed the baby gently, rocking her back and forth.

In the other room, Strickler's relieved, but still worried voice carried out. "It's all right, Anson. Javier and Ophelia are friends of ours, and they know about our kind."

"It is very nice to meet you," Javier's smooth voice greeted, Ophelia's voice echoing the same sentiment in a slightly more subdued tone of voice.

"Er, yeah…" Anson replied, his tone clearly uncomfortable. "You too."

"Um…" Strickler gave a slightly nervous laugh after a moment of tense silence. "Is everything all right? We weren't expecting—"

"I…" Barbara interrupted, and Jim could hear the anxiousness in her voice and the pounding of her heart. "I invited them for dinner."

"Oh, Barbara…" Strickler sighed, his voice thick with defeat and disappointment. "This isn't—"

"Barbara said Jim and Claire were visiting," Ophelia interjected, and Jim shared a surprised look with his mate at the slightly hopeful tone in Ophelia's voice. "She said Claire had the… the baby early."

"Um…" Barbara said, quiet and nervous. "They just got here about 10 minutes ago. Jim, Claire! Come say _hello_ , darlings!"

Jim growled low in his chest, angry and annoyed. Claire nuzzled his neck gently, hugging the baby closer to her chest. "What do you want to do?"

"Let's just get this over with, so we can get her home," Jim replied, sighing in defeat as he nuzzled the top of her head in return. "Keep Ellie tucked away, and don't let her see my face."

"Your…?" Claire started to question, but fell silent when he pulled the Glamour Mask from his messenger bag along with the food container he had brought. He pressed the mask to his face and in a flash of green light, he stood slightly disoriented in his shorter human form. "Jim, you don't have to—"

"It will make your parents more comfortable," Jim replied, taking one of Claire's hands in his. "My scent won't change, but Ellie won't recognize this face, so keep her tucked, okay?"

"Jim…" Claire protested once more, frowning and sending him a feeling of unease and guilt.

"Jim! Claire!"

Jim growled again, annoyed, but shook it off, gripping Claire's hand tightly in his own. He pulled her along behind him as they exited the kitchen hesitantly. The others had been looking in their direction, and they all blinked in surprise as they saw him in his human form. Strickler gave him a fond, yet sad smile, and Jim had to look away from his mother, her gaze longing as she looked upon the form she was most familiar with. Javier and Ophelia stood next to Barbara, their expressions surprised; Javier's expression turned ecstatic as he laid eyes on his daughter, whom he hadn't seen in months.

"Oh, my little princess!" Javier gushed, letting go of his wife's hand and taking an excited step forward, his arms outstretched. The two Changelings in the room cringed at the movement, and Jim tensed, his lip curling up in an involuntary snarl. The look wasn't as intimidating on his human face, but his father-in-law must have caught on to the tension in the room because he paused, his smile fading a little. After a moment, he nodded, letting his arms drop and stepped back to his wife's side. His smile, however, only lessened a little bit, and he continued to address his daughter as he normally would have. "Mi amor, how are you? How is the little one?"

Jim felt Claire relax behind him, her fingers tightening briefly around his. "Hi, Papa. We're… okay."

"They should still be home," Jim said in a quiet voice, trying to maintain his composure. There were too many people surrounding them, and his protective instincts were raging just beneath the surface.

"Are you sick?" Ophelia asked in a quiet voice, her question directed at her daughter. The emotion in her voice was masked with a tone of indifference, but her expression was twisted into a frown of slight concern. Claire tensed again, and Jim swallowed back the growl trying to force itself out of his throat.

"We're still recovering," Claire explained quietly, shuffling close against Jim's back. He lacked his height and width in his human form, so he wasn't much use as far as cover went, but she felt more at ease, the closer she was to him. "I was in labor for nearly 48 hours, and I only gave birth four days ago. We've had a lot of disturbances since then, so everything's kind of much right now."

Ophelia's frown deepened and she gave Barbara a concerned look before directing her attention back to Claire. "Why don't you let Barbara look you ov—"

"No!" Claire said in a quick, but firm voice, and Jim felt her leaning heavily against his back. He widened his stance slightly to support her; despite her show of strength, she was weakening quickly, and he gripped her hand tighter, willing his strength into her along their bond. "I'm sorry; I don't mean to be rude, but I'm tired, and I don't want Ellie out of our nest any longer than necessary."

"Let's sit, then," Barbara said, gesturing to the set dining room table. Bowls and plates of food were spread across the bar that he hadn't noticed before, buffet style, and Jim gave a hesitant sniff. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans, biscuits…

"KFC," Strickler whispered with a slight laugh as he passed Jim and Claire, noticing Jim's nervous hesitation regarding the food. Jim relaxed immediately, and then handed over his own dish to add to the lineup, chuckling as he heard Claire's stomach growl loudly.

"Missing fast food?" Jim smiled at his blushing mate, and she grinned back with a little bit of guilt.

"Maybe just a little."

"Here," Jim said, guiding her to a chair at the table that was closest to the curtained window. He angled the chair slightly, so that she was not sitting close to anyone except where he planned to sit next to her. As he helped her sit, she adjusted the sling holding their child to further hide the babe from view. "I'll make you a plate."

"Thank you, mi amor," Claire sighed, and he kissed her forehead, frowning as he noted that her skin was still chilled and clammy. He could both see and feel her relief at being able to sit, though she didn't allow herself to relax fully so long as they were in the company of a stranger and — specifically in the case of her mother — possibly hostile individuals.

Plates were fixed quickly and silently, and soon enough everyone was seated around the dining room table, which had been expanded to fit the extra guests. Strickler took the other seat next to Claire, opposite Jim, leaving a large enough space between her and him to appease Jim's protectiveness. Barbara was seated next to her boyfriend, Ophelia on her other side. Next was Javier, opposite his wife, and then between him and Jim sat the clearly uncomfortable Anson. Jim grabbed a biscuit to appease his mother's insistent concern over his reluctance to eat; he merely picked at it, passing the torn bits off to his mate, who was more than happy to eat it for him. Anson had taken a bit of Jim's venison dish, but nothing else.

"How much do these humans know?" Anson asked, nodding toward Javier and Ophelia.

" _These humans_ ," Ophelia began, her tone and expression offended. Jim groaned silently, and he and Claire shared an exasperated look. "…have names. Ophelia," she pronounced her name slowly as she gestured to herself, as if speaking to a child. She then gestured to her husband, and continued in the same slow tone. "…and Javier."

Anson rolled his eyes, an annoyed growl vibrating in his chest. Jim snarled slightly, silently declaring his protection over his in-laws. Anson ceased his growling immediately, automatically tilting his head to the side to expose his throat, showing that he meant no harm and recognized Jim as the more dominate troll. "Sorry… I've just never dealt with humans who have known as much about us as Strickler's mate, and now you two, I guess." He paused for a second, taking a ripping bite of the strip of venison on his fork, taking half the utensil with the chomp. He swallowed his food and glanced briefly at Claire and then averted his gaze submissively. "…and you, Lady Claire, though I was prepared for your knowledge."

"My parents know everything," Claire told Anson in a kind and soft voice, swallowing her spoonful of mashed potatoes. "You can tell us anything — they won't say a word."

Anson looked skeptical, but nodded. They were all silent for a minute, waiting as the Huldrekall gathered his thoughts. Finally, he shifted himself just enough so that his body was facing more toward Jim than anyone else. "First, you need to know that I was assigned to Usurna nearly three decades ago, when I was first released from the Darklands. I followed her obediently and without question for 15 years. We're divided by Dom and Sub; some Changelings are given ownership of themselves, such as Stricklander here — those are Doms. Then, there are those of us who were bought and sold, like slaves — we're Subs. It's ingrained in us through centuries of torture and conditioning to submit to our owners, to never question what we're told to do, or how we are to use our abilities. We exist to serve — nothing more."

Jim felt sick with this knowledge, and couldn't help but glance at his almost step-father anxiously. The older troll couldn't quite meet Jim's eyes as he nodded his confirmation of what Anson was telling him.

"Which one is Enrique? I mean, NotEnrique," Claire asked, correcting herself quickly when her parents shot her wide eyed and horrified looks. Jim could feel Claire's annoyance with the looks and gripped her hand under the table, squeezing lightly. Her adoptive brother had first been dubbed 'NotEnrique' as a form of spiteful bitterness, but once he had fallen in love with his new family — more specifically, his sister — and truly switched sides, they referred to him as 'Enrique.' It was the only name he had ever known, the only one he could actually claim as his own, even if it hadn't started that way. It was the name he wore when he had finally found acceptance and love.

"A Sub," Strickler said in a quiet voice, glancing nervously toward the Nuñez's. "Bular owned him, and he reported to me." Strickler grinned a little. "Clearly, we underestimated him."

"Underestimated…?" Ophelia asked in confusion, absently picking at the chicken on her plate.

"Without his help, Bular would have managed to bring Gunmar through from the Darklands much sooner than when he did," Strickler explained in a subdued and slightly guilty voice, obviously deciding not to mention his own hand in Bular's plans. To Jim, it didn't matter anymore — Strickler had more than redeemed himself since then, though he understood why the Changeling didn't want to bring it up. "Jim would have been defeated handily, if he had faced off against both Bular _and_ Gunmar back then, Morgana would have been awakened without resistance from anyone, and she would have taken the world as hers… but don't tell the imp that I gave him that much credit."

Jim chuckled, shaking his head in mock seriousness. "No, of course not."

"He still stole our baby," Ophelia mumbled under her breath, glaring down at her food in bitterness.

Jim felt Claire's hand stiffen in his, under the table, and he squeezed it lightly in reassurance. He caught her eye with his and shook his head minutely, despite feeling the same anger that he could see and feel from his mate. Ophelia had no memory of disowning her daughter and more or less admitting that Claire's baby brother was the product of an affair. Jim couldn't imagine, given baby Enrique's distinctly _un_ -Hispanic looks, that Javier didn't know this. Claire's father was a good man, and Jim was grateful that his mate took after her father, for the most part. She shared her mother's passion and ambition, but coupled with her father's compassionate and loving nature, it gave her the uncontested strength of character that he had fallen so headily for.

"Anyway," Anson interjected after a tense moment, and Jim looked back to the Huldrekall taking another quick and nervous bite of his food. The fork was gone completely now, as was the spoon that had been sitting on the table next to his plate. He licked the juice from his fingers before continuing. "During the time that I was under Usurna's rule, I acted as a spy, mostly. She hated the Surface Lands, but she used her Changelings to gather information to pass back to Bular and Gunmar. It was also during this time that they developed a little problem — low supply."

"Supply?" Jim echoed on a question, frowning. "Supply of what?"

"Changelings," Strickler explained, his voice slightly breathless. Jim looked toward his almost step-father to see that he was staring at Anson with wide, astonished eyes, as if he had just realized this information for himself. Catching Jim's curious look, Strickler's mouth twisted into an uncertain frown. "As you know, we Changelings were born as full trolls, stolen from our packs millennia ago, and then experimented on with Morgana's blood magics to give us the ability to traverse both the troll and human worlds. Since then, however, trolls became more cautious — whelps were sired less frequently and in lesser amounts. In the time before Changelings, it was not unusual for troll families to have several whelps in the nest at once."

"But after their children were stolen from them, they were afraid of the potential loss,"Anson took over the explanation, nodding firmly at his fellow Changeling. "Where a family might conceive every year or two before, afterward, they would refrain from adding to the nest until many decades had passed in between the whelps. On top of that, heavy warding magics were put into place to protect homes and Markets — thus making another raid for newborns almost impossible. Giving it a few decades for the magics to take root in all packs, the raids became truly impossible. Even with trolls like Usurna offering up her stock, as a Council Elder, she could only do so much without rousing suspicion. So, in all, only a few hundred babes were taken."

"And she wanted more slaves?" Jim guessed, his gut twisting with nausea. On the other side of the table Barbara had gasped and was cupping her hands over her mouth in horror. Jim looked back to Anson, frowning in a slight confusion as he thought through what the Huldrekall wasn't saying. "…but I can't imagine that she was the only buyer, and if there were only so many Changelings… then what?"

"A human male and a human female can create another human," Anson said in a carefully controlled tone of voice, his eyes averted to his half empty plate. "A troll male and troll female can create another troll. An elven male and an elven female can create another elf. And so on…"

"She wanted to _breed_ Changelings?!" Claire gasped in horror, and then hurriedly removed her hand from Jim's to soothe Ellie, who had started to fuss as she reacted to her mother's distress. Jim shifted his body to briefly hide Claire from view of the others as he helped her turn her sling around, carefully keeping the baby tucked enough so that she would not catch sight of her father's now human and extremely foreign face. Claire maneuvered her clothing to offer her fuller breast to the baby, and she latched on weakly, suckling half-heartedly. Jim and Claire shared another worried look, but Anson interrupted the moment by continuing to speak, politely ignoring the intimate scene.

"Yes," Anson confirmed with a short, bitter laugh. "Like we were just dogs that she could pick and choose to create the perfect, little puppies. Had lineage papers and everything — it was disgusting. Anna had saliva so acidic that it could burn through solid titanium in less than five seconds; Reija could control the elements; Elya was the fastest; Grada was the strongest; Endor's blood would crystalize into a substance so strong that it would put diamonds to shame; and so on… pick a bit of that and a bit of this and that's how you get Changelings like Polymorphs."

"And you wouldn't follow her after that?" Jim questioned hesitantly, turning back as he took Claire's hand back in his to control the shaking in it.

"Tch," Anson scoffed, rolling his eyes in embarrassed disgust. His eyes softened when he met Jim's gaze, reading the horrified look on his face. Sighing, the Changeling ran a shaky hand through his blonde hair, tussling it anxiously. "You and I are unique, Trollhunter. Huldufólk have all but died out — we were already on the way out when the raids happened. I was the only one of my kind that they managed to take."

"But Jim was born human," Barbara said, confusion and skepticism in her voice. "I'm human, his father is human… Jim is only what he is now because of some spell Merlin cast."

Anson glanced at Jim and back to Barbara, a hesitant look on his face. "…magic — even magic cast by a powerful wizard like Merlin — can only emphasize what's already there. You or your former mate likely had one of the Huldufólk in your lineage way back when."

Jim and Barbara shared a stunned look across the table, and even Strickler looked sick to his stomach with shock.

"Okay, so you and Jim are rare, then," Ophelia said, clearly not liking the lack of control she had. "What makes that unique?"

"It's not so much that we're rare," Anson explained, averting his gaze from the woman's intense glare. "Huldufólk are unique because we can cross breed with any species — troll, human, elven, Changelings… even dragons, though that's kind of frowned upon."

"Probably dangerous too," Javier interjected with a light laugh, attempting to break the tension with a bit of humor. Jim chuckled, shaking his head and gave his father-in-law a bemused smile.

"Well, there is that," Anson replied, a grin twitching at the corner of his mouth. Looking back to Jim, he continued in a lighter tone. "But she wanted to use me as a stud — to create Changelings from all kinds of different beings, not just trolls."

"That's awful!" Barbara exclaimed, her voice choked and thick with emotion.

Anson shrugged, but nodded. "Most of us never questioned it; remember, we were tortured and conditioned for centuries to follow our master's every command. I was nervous and hesitant, but I was too afraid to question her — until she paired me with a young, human girl as my first breed. She must have been 13 or so… but it wasn't her age that dissuaded me. She was…" Anson frowned and brought his arm up to rub nervously at his opposite shoulder. "… _possessed_ by something."

"They _drugged_ her?" Barbara exclaimed, and Jim felt like he was going to throw up, both his own disgust and Claire's swamping him.

"No," Anson shook his head. "She was possessed. You could see it literally oozing out of her every pore. Her eyes were pure black, and she was surrounded by black mist, and when she spoke, it was like there were a thousand voices were trying to escape at once. I knew at once that the girl's soul was gone, that she wasn't the one in that body anymore. If I wasn't scared enough before, this broke me — whatever was in her was pure evil. Usurna never expected her obedient, little slave boy to rebel, so I wasn't locked in with that thing. I ran. It gave chase, but the human body was too weak and slow to keep up. I ran and ran and didn't stop for days, not until I was in the thick of the Amazon Jungle. Jungle creatures are reclusive and keep to themselves unless directly threatened, so no one cared if a lone Changeling roamed through their territories, but if any kind of hunting party went in, they fought back harshly. Usurna only risked three groups coming after me — when the third never returned, I guess she gave up. Figured I wasn't worth the effort."

"And you've been there all this time?" Claire asked, sitting back in her chair as she gently rocked the baby back and forth as she nursed. Jim didn't miss the intensely curious stare that Ophelia was watching her daughter with, and it made them both uncomfortable, though he and Claire ignored it for the time being.

Anson shook his head, his mouth twisting in a combination of anger and sorrow. "Only for a short while. Usurna never found me, but she wasn't going to let me go without punishment. She got word of my betrayal back to Bular and Gunmar… as retribution, they killed my familiar."

"Dios mío!" Javier exclaimed breathlessly, his expression sick.

"No, they…" Strickler said, clearly shocked by this previously unknown information. "…the babes were supposed to be safe under any circumstance."

Anson snorted, rolling his eyes. "And who told you that? Bular? A familiar's soul can only be bound once… if the Changeling it's bound to is no longer of any use, then why keep the familiar?"

Jim shook his head, bile rising up his throat in sick horror. "What abut Changelings who are killed or die? What… what happens to their familiars?"

"Familiars are kept as infants, their own souls too weak to resist the magic binding them to their Changeling counterpart," Anson replied in a subdued tone, staring down at the table in deep concentration. "A Changeling is strong enough to survive half of his or her soul being ripped away, but a human infant? The poor thing would die in the worst ago—"

Jim pushed away from the table, a harsh roaring in his ears, his stomach turning. Without warning, he stood and ran into the kitchen and out the backdoor that lead to the yard. He ripped the mask from his face and tossed it away from himself, heaving what little he had in his stomach into his mother's shrubbery, his hands braced on his wobbling knees.

"Mi amor…?"

Jim heaved again, grateful to feel Claire's warm hand gently rubbing his back, but unable to respond. The cool winter air — nowhere near as cold as New Jersey — bit lightly at his tear stained face, his whole body convulsing as he continued to spit up mostly bile. Tucked in her sling against Claire's chest, Ellie began to cry, sensing her parents' distress, and Claire struggled to comfort the infant and Jim at the same time.

"Sorry," Jim gasped breathlessly, once his stomach had settled. He still felt sick, but there was nothing left for him to throw up. He lowered himself shakily to his knees in the grass, cradling his head in his hands. "I'm so sorry."

"No, Jim…" Claire sighed, attempting to kneel by his side. She wobbled a little on the way down, and Jim wrapped his arm around her automatically, both to make sure she didn't fall, but to also hug her close. Ellie cried heavily between them as he pulled Claire into both of his arms, crushing her gently to his chest and burying his face into her neck. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

Jim shook his head into the crook of her neck, tilting his head enough that he could see Ellie's face peeking out from the cover of her sling. A pang of guilt went through him as he saw his daughter's pale skin and wet cheeks, remnants of her dinner crusted around her mouth and on Claire's exposed nipple. Jim could see the milk still beading up from his mate's breast, and it made his gut twist with a new level of guilt.

"I've killed Changelings before…" Jim whispered in a hoarse and choked voice, squeezing his eyes shut as a few more tears escaped. "I never thought about… it never occurred to me…"

"I apologize, Trollhunter."

Jim looked up to see Anson standing on the back step, his stance open and vulnerable to signify that he meant no harm. He was looking at them with pain and guilt in his expression, but Jim thought he could also see a hint of curiosity in the Huldrekall's gaze. It wasn't directed toward Claire, but toward Jim.

"No, I…" Jim began, sitting back on his calves and rubbing his tears away with the back of his hand, absently pulling the baby's sling a little higher to shield Ellie and Claire's breast from view. She had yet to cover her chest, leaving her breast out for the infant to nurse when she wanted to. "I'm sorry, Anson. Like I said before, we shouldn't really be out of our nest yet, and I… well, I didn't know about…"

"That's another thing that makes _you_ unique," Anson said, his ear flicking lightly back to follow the muffled sounds of conversation from within the house. Jim barely heard the chatter, too absorbed in his immediate surroundings to bother concentrating on the others inside the house. Claire leaned into his chest, nuzzling his neck in a comforting manner, and Ellie's cries quieted to whimpers and sniffles as she was pressed between the warm chests of her parents. Anson sat himself down on the stoop and reached into his pocket to pull out a pack of cigarettes. He took one out, flipping it between his fingers, seeming to contemplate the object for a few seconds before putting it to the corner of his mouth. He spoke around the stick as he pulled a lighter from the opposite pocket. "It's why I wanted to meet you in person."

"And what's that?" Claire asked, pressing herself closer to Jim in an attempt to further shield the baby attached to her chest from the cigarette smoke that the Changeling started breathing in and puffing out. The light breeze was blowing away from them, however, and Jim noticed that Anson shifted himself lightly every time the wind changed even a little, careful to make sure that the smoke never blew in their direction.

"You don't hold prejudices," Anson said in a quiet voice, taking in a deep drag from his cigarette. He held the smoke in his lungs for a few seconds, his eyes closed as if her were savoring the sensation, and then he let it out on a slow, long exhale. "Trolls hate us. They call us _Impure_ — they've forgotten that we were once one of them, or maybe they just don't care. We're too… _dirty_ for them. Even Trollhunters of the past only viewed us as enemies, never considering our familiars when hunting us. They were _obligated_ to protect the humans, but for them, troll safety came first. You, however, are different."

"Because I'm both?" Jim asked in a deadpan voice.

"No," Anson protested, shaking his head. Something about the movement caused him to inhale too deeply, and he gave a few wheezing coughs. Jim moved to stand, his arm outstretched toward Anson in an attempt to help, but the other troll held up the hand that was holding the cigarette in between his index and middle fingers and punched his own chest with his other hand. After another hacking cough, he spit a glob of mucus to the side, and then went right back to puffing on his cancer stick. He saw the disapproving look on Jim's and Claire's faces, and laughed. "Sorry. Bad habit that I picked up in the '80s. Haven't been able to shake it. Anyway, it's not because of what Merlin's made you into. It's because you see every innocent as under your protection — every single one, no matter their species, even before your transformation. We heard the stories."

"We?" Jim questioned, furrowing his brow in confusion.

Anson nodded, taking another drag on the slowly dwindling cigarette. The embers flared and floated off into the breeze as he flicked the ashes away with a light tapping motion. "Others like me — those of us who rebelled. We formed our own little Rogue One group, if you will." Anson grinned fondly at the comparison, snickering a little. "We've spent the last twelve years infiltrating ourselves into key positions within Gunmar sympathizing packs and the Janus Order, gathering information and preparing for the coming war. Many of us had been Subs who rebelled against our masters, and many of us have lost our familiars. A fair few, however, have retained their positions and reputations, but are double agents for us. No one was going to defend us, so we've been planning to fight for ourselves, not just for defense, but for our very freedom."

"How do you know Strickler, then?" Claire asked in a soft voice, absently nuzzling Jim's neck again. "He was working with Bular up until—"

"When you showed him mercy," Anson interrupted, nodding as his eyes slipped between Jim and Claire. "He'd never experienced it before. Just like all of us, in the beginning, he knew nothing of compassion or mercy. He thought the prejudices were too deep — that the only way to rectify anything was to gain control. If that happened to be under the heel of a monster like Gunmar, then so be it." He took a last drag on his cigarette before dropping the leftover stub to the ground and crushing it beneath his shoe. "But you changed that. You showed him that there was another way… but now he was lost, nowhere to go, so he contacted someone who knew someone who knew someone who knew one of us. We put him through the wringer," Anson chuckled with a mischievous expression. "He had to prove himself to us, before we were willing to trust him; but he was determined and adamant. He's been a trusted ally ever since."

"Okay…" Jim breathed, sitting back on his calves again, his head aching as he tried to process what he was being told. "Thank you… for helping him. I'm glad he wasn't all alone during that time. What… what has all of this got to do with what's happening now? _What_ is behind all of this?"

Anson smirked, nodding his head. "You've gathered that this is something much deeper than a fight over different ideologies, then. Good. You'll need that intuition, because I can give you information, but I honestly have no idea what to do about it — what could ever possibly be done about it."

"Then why tell us?" Claire asked in an exasperated and pained voice. Jim braced her as she started to lean her weight into him, resting her head on his shoulder tiredly. "If there's nothing we can do?"

"Your mate — and you — have proven us wrong before," the Huldrekall said, his smirk turning into a fond smile as he watched their interaction with each other. "If anyone _can_ do something, it's you lot. Remember the girl I was telling you about?"

"The possessed one?" Jim asked, avoiding the topic of breeding, the very thought churning his stomach all over again.

"Yeah," Anson nodded, resting his forearms on his knees and pressing his face tiredly into his hands. His voice was slightly muffled as he continued speaking. "I know what it is now — that darkness that had taken her. They call it Draknagoth."

Jim felt a shock go through him at the familiarity of the name, knowing he had heard it somewhere before, but not able to place it. Looking to his mate, he hoped that she would recall where they had heard it before, but she was watching him, her expression curious, but showing no recognition. "Jim, what is it?"

"I've heard that name before…" Jim replied, frowning as he rifled through his memory, trying to place it.

"Well, it sounds a lot like 'Nyarlagroth,'" Claire hummed to herself, and then winced a little, shifting the baby closer to her chest. Jim heard the sounds of Ellie suckling again. "Maybe that's what you're thinking of?"

"No…" Jim shook his head, baring his teeth in frustration. "I've heard _that_ name before. God, I can't remember…"

"Well, whatever it is, it's something that's been trying to make a claim in this world for a long time," Anson said, shrugging slightly as he looked back up from his hands. "I'd wager that it's been biding its time for centuries. Usurna thinks she's using it, like an untapped power of some kind, but there's no doubt that _it_ is using _her_."

"You've got spies with her pack?" Claire asked, her body quickly losing the strength that she had gathered back during dinner. Nursing made her tired in general, but she was usually resting while she did it. Jim tightened his arms around her and moved to sit on his backside in the grass, pulling his mate and daughter into his lap as he did so.

Anson politely averted his eyes as they adjusted themselves, continuing with his explanation with a nod. "Just one. She's got to be careful when passing along information, so as not to expose herself. It's too much of a risk to give us their location right now, but we know that they're somewhere along the East Coast, or possibly Appalachia."

Jim nodded, absently pressing a kiss to his wife's clammy forehead. "…is it possible that this… _thing_ originates from the Shadow Realm?"

"It wouldn't surprise me," Anson replied with another shrug. "I've never heard of anything like this from the Living Realm. I don't know how it would have crossed over, though. I don't think it was here in Morgana's time, but it _has_ been here longer than your own access to the Shadow Realm. There are times when the walls between realms are weakened, so that's a possibility."

"There is?" Claire asked in surprise, tilting her head up slightly on Jim's shoulder to better look at Anson. "Like when?"

"It's rare," the Huldrekall explained, his eyes drifting skyward in thought. "Moon anomalies, mostly — lunar eclipses, blue moons, blood moons especially, but those are—"

"Toby!" Jim exclaimed, his whole body jolting as the memory came crashing down on him. Claire and Anson jumped in surprise, and Ellie let go of her mother's breast to cry again.

"Shh, shh…" Claire tried to soothe the baby, giving Jim a harsh glare. He pressed another kiss to her cheek in brief apology before directing his attention back to Anson.

"I _have_ heard that name before," Jim said to the Changeling's raised eyebrow expression. "Our best friend, Toby — he drank a whole bottle of Elixlore once and scarfed down Blinky's entire library. He was spouting off a bunch of stuff that I didn't understand, but he said something about blood moons and the rising of something called the 'Draknagoth.' And a couple of months ago, I met a dragon who said that a darkness was coming that needed to be defeated before the next blood moon, in three years."

"Does your friend still have this book?" Anson perked up, leaning forward eagerly. "Does he remember what all it said?"

"He didn't remember much after the potion wore off," Jim admitted with a slight frown. "Blinky managed to save a lot of his books, but not all of them, and I don't know which book it was from. All we can do is research, at this point. Hopefully, Blink still has the book, but we've got a lot of reading ahead of us."

"Merlin might know something too," Claire said, rocking the baby in her arms gently. She was whining and whimpering, but had stopped crying again. "He can see glimpses of the future."

"He expected me to be a 30 year-old," Jim laughed lightly, scrunching his nose up in amusement. "His predictions aren't always the most accurate."

"Something is better than nothing," Claire replied, biting her lip nervously. "If we—"

 _CRASH!_

All three of them jumped and Ellie started screaming her head off at the loud sound of breaking glass coming from inside the house. Barely a second later, the sounds of two female voices yelling at each other rang clearly from inside. Anson was the first one inside, Jim and Claire pulling themselves to their feet and stumbling in after him. The scene that met them was one for the books: Barbara and Ophelia were on opposite sides of the room, pointing and shouting at each other while their partners were physically holding them back. Javier, in particular, seemed to be struggling to keep Ophelia from hurling herself at Jim's mother. When they burst back into the house, the baby's cries loud and panicked, the others looked up, startled. The sight of Jim, without the Glamour Mask and now in his troll form, seemed to further agitate Ophelia and when her eyes shot to Claire, who was trying desperately to soothe the screaming infant, she became infuriated.

"He's completely _ruined_ her life!"

"Having a _baby_ isn't—"

"They're _teenagers_!"

"They're _in love_ , Ophelia!"

"Oh, and what would _you_ know about _love_ , Barbara?! Your first husband—"

"Don't you _dare_ —"

"STOP IT!"

Magic flared through the room, so strong that it created a visible haze in the air. Pillows on the sofa, plates from the table, the food on the bar, books from the bookshelf all started floating in the air. Around her, Claire's hair blew around her face, her eyes starting to turn black. Anson, seeing the seeping blackness, jerked back in surprise.

"What the—"

"I have _had_ it!" Claire exclaimed, tears beginning to course down her cheeks. Jim tried to calm her through their bond, but between what he had just been told from Anson, the drama unfolding before them, and the sickly, panicked cried of his daughter, he was just as frazzled as his mate.

"Claire—" Ophelia began, gasping against the force of the magic surrounding them.

"No!" Claire screamed, stamping her foot. She wobbled slightly, her magic faltering, and the objects in the air began to fall to the floor randomly.

"Claire," Jim gasped, grateful when her remaining magic didn't push him away, but seemed to pull him closer as he tugged his mate into arms. She was rigid, her shoulders squared, and while she allowed him to embrace her, she gently pushed him away after a moment of gathering herself together. Lifting her sling over her head, her shirt falling to cover her chest before she was exposed to the others, she pressed the distraught baby into Jim's arms. He took her, cuddling her close to his chest and offered her a finger to gum on. She whimpered and sniffled, but grasped on to his index finger in her little fists, gumming and sucking on the appendage anxiously.

"Mom," Claire said, turning to her mother, the blackness fading from her eyes as she allowed her magic to dissipate. She was calm now, confident and determined. " _Why_ are you being like this? You can accept it or deny it, but this is my life now, and it has no bearing on you, unless you want it to. Yes, I want my babies to know their grandparents, but if you choose to exclude yourself from our lives and theirs, then I won't blame you for that. Why did you come here tonight?"

"I…" Ophelia said in a soft voice, tears welling in her brown eyes. "Barbara said that you had the… that you went into labor early. I… I was worried about you. And now I've seen you, and you look miserable."

"I am miserable," Claire replied, more tears spilling over. "I'm tired, and I hurt, and my head is pounding like crazy, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to puke. My baby is scared, and tired, and out of the nest way too soon, and I want to get her home before she becomes any weaker than she already is. And on top of all of that, now you're starting on this? Mom, if you cared about me at all, please just let this go — let _me_ go."

"You're my baby," Ophelia whimpered in a choked voice. Ellie let out a short, gasping cry and Jim hugged her tighter to his chest. Claire's mother looked to him, and her eyes hardened again. "And he ruined your life!"

"Jim _is_ my life!" Claire exclaimed, her voice catching in emotion. "You act like he stole me away, when you know that's not what happened! You know he was never going to ask me to leave with him, that he thought to ask me would be selfish. I told you that where he goes, I go. What did you think was going to happen when a woman and a man, who are in love, go off to live together? Did you think we were just going to be friends on a road trip?"

"You're not a woman!" Ophelia exclaimed, stomping her own foot, her arms rigid at her sides, hands balled into fists. "You're just a little girl!"

"Mom…" Claire sighed, shaking her head. "Maybe under normal circumstances, in a world without magic, I _would_ still be a child — but that's not the case, and I don't _want_ it to be. I love Jim, I love our baby, and I love our life as it is _now_. I don't want anything to have been — or ever be — different."

"You're too young," Ophelia protested again, shaking her head in frustration. "And people already think—"

"And you seem to be the only one who _cares_ what they think!" Claire snapped, finally losing her temper. She her foot again, like her mother had, her face flushing red. A second later, her face paled and Jim felt the sudden dampening of his mate's emotions, an impression of pain and nausea filling the void. Claire wobbled on her feet again, a hand coming up to press against the side of her head, grimacing in discomfort.

"Claire, honey," Barbara said with a frown of concern, stepping forward with her arms outstretched. Claire saw the movement and backed away, leaning heavily against Jim's arm, her head resting against his shoulder tiredly. "Honey, you don't look so good. Let me—"

"I want to go home," Claire declared in a firm voice, opening her pained eyes to look up at Jim pleadingly. He felt his heart twist, a sudden feeling of uncertainty crashing down on him. "I want to go home _now_."

"Maybe you should let—" Jim started, his worry for his mate's health overpowering his own desire to give in to her request.

" _Now_ ," Claire repeated in a hard tone, but then she whimpered, whining in the back of her throat in a tone that she knew Jim would give in to. "Please…"

Jim nodded, pulling his hand away from Ellie's mouth (to which she began crying in earnest) and reaching around his wife to pull the charm from her opposite pocket. He briefly glanced up to Strickler and then Anson, both of whom wore understanding expressions. Strickler gave a short nod, mouthing 'I'll call you,' and then Jim squeezed the charm in his palm, willing the magic to activate. In a harsh flash of blue light, the magic burst; when it cleared again, they were standing back in the warm sanctity of their own bedroom.

Immediately, Claire clapped her hands to her mouth and stumbled forward to grab the wash basin on her dresser. Jim cringed as she retched, throwing up the food she had eaten only an hour before. He bounced Ellie gently in the crook of his arm, trying to soothe her crying, while he followed after his wife and rubbed her back with his free hand.

"Claire… mi amor…" Jim whimpered as Claire tried to catch her breath after her sick spell, her hands braced on either side of the dresser's top, her arms trembling. When lit was clear that she wasn't going to bring anything else up, Jim guided his mate over to the bed and sat her down. Shakily, Claire tore her clothes off and then backed into the bed, taking the side closest to the wall, where a chunk of Heartstone flowed along a seam in the rock. As she pressed her back against the wall, the amber rock pulsed with warm life, and she sighed in relief.

"Ellie…" Claire sighed, blinking tiredly. She held her arms out for the crying infant and Jim pressed that baby into her mother's loving arms.

As Claire situated Ellie into her embrace, Jim pulled off his own clothes and then slid into the bed with his mate and daughter. They curled together around the baby, encasing her in the warm protection of their bodies. Instinctively, Jim leant down to clean his daughter's face, licking away her tears and the dried milk at the corners of her mouth. Pulling away from the baby slightly, he tilted his head enough to lap at his mate's nipples, cleaning away the dried milk there too. Claire was obviously too tired to react to his actions — not that he had meant them in a sexual way. She was weak, her skin cold and clammy, and Jim gave a whine of concern. She _did_ respond to that, automatically making a noise of false assurance in response. Jim could feel how tired she was, even with the Heartstone's magic bolstering her. Between them, Ellie gave weak, coughing cries. Snuffling against Claire's breast, Jim took a nipple into his mouth, suckling just enough to draw a little bit of milk into his mouth, and then pulled away when the liquid began beading up on its own. Turning Ellie slightly, he pressed her mouth to the nipple and she latched on, suckling weakly at first and then harder as she calmed. Claire's body was trembling and sweaty, her breathing heavy, and her skin so pale that her freckles stood out harshly. Jim pressed his mouth to his wife's parted lips, kissing her deeply while passing the milk that he'd held onto in his mouth into hers. He had no idea why he felt like this was something she needed — he could only figure that his instincts knew more than what his mind did. If the nutrients in the milk could keep the baby healthy, then why would it not have the same benefit to Claire herself? Claire made a noise of surprise, but kissed him back after a moment, swallowing the milk gratefully.

"Sorry," Jim murmured as he pulled back, resting his forehead against hers. "I don't know why…"

"No," she protested in a whisper, bring her hand up to caress his cheek. "Thank you."

Jim tightened his arms around his little family, pressing soft kisses to his mate's face and lips. "I love you… so much."

"I love you too," Claire replied, her skin starting to warm. A smile pulled at the corner of her mouth as she pressed another soft kiss to his lips. "Ellie and I are not leaving this nest for another two months, under any circumstance. Do you understand me?"

Jim laughed lightly, but nodded, recognizing the underlying seriousness in her tone. "Three months."

Claire laughed and sobbed at the same time, pressing her mouth back to his in a desperate kiss.

 _To be continued..._

✩ _**REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!**_ ✩


	26. Chapter Twenty-Six

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

➳ _Quite a long chapter this time! Enjoy!_

 **Chapter Twenty-Six**

It was one month before Claire would let anyone, other than Jim, into their cave. Both of the parents were unwilling to subject their daughter to any more stress until her soul could anchor itself to theirs and the Heartstone could strengthen both Ellie and Claire. It was _two_ months before they ventured into the Market Center, introducing the baby to the neighbors, so to speak. Bagdwella had taken quite a liking to the babe, and Jim often caught her sneaking small treats, like salt and sugar cubes, to her. Once settled and strengthened, Ellie had flourished and was far surpassing any milestones that a human baby her age would have, let alone one who had been born a month early. At two and a half months, she had started to need food in conjunction with her mother's milk to sustain her, and at three months she could sit up on her own. By the time three and a half months had passed, Ellie was able to scoot herself around on the floor in a manner that wasn't quite a crawl, but got her to where she wanted to go. Thankfully, she was still too slow to actually get away from them, but Jim suspected that it wouldn't be long before she would be crawling off as soon as their eyes were turned.

"Oy!" Jim heard NotEnrique exclaim from the next room in playful indignation. "That's cheatin', Little Monster!"

Jim heard Ellie screech in laughter in response, and he chuckled as he continued crushing strawberries in the bowl in his hand with a fork. He had to be careful of his strength, but any utensils that he broke ended up becoming his own dinner, so it worked out either way.

"…think you can get away with that, eh? Well, no one can get away from… Mister Tickle Troll!"

More screaming laughter followed. Jim traded the fork for a small spoon and rounded the corner into his living room. On the floor, in front of the couch, a pile of patchwork quilts and blankets were spread out, small toys and stone blocks scattered across it. In the middle of the blanket, little Ellie was lying on her back, wearing a plain, white onesie, a cloth diaper underneath it. One foot was pulled up to her mouth, her toes wet with baby slobber, and she was laughing hysterically as her uncle ruthlessly tickled the other foot. She hadn't lost her fuzzy newborn hair, as most babies did, but it had grown a bit longer instead, silkier and less frizzy. Her hair had grown to chin length now, the edges curling in sweet ringlets. Atop her head, her horns had started coming through in a way that was impossible to brush off as just subtle growths; they weren't pointed and sharp, like Jim's, but were growing back in the same direction as his. Her horns were protruding now, escaping the confines of her hair, and like teething — which, miraculously, she _hadn't_ started yet — the feeling could be less than pleasant. If she were in a particularly grumpy and uncooperative mood, it was likely the result of her head aching, and they would find that her horns had taken on another centimeter or two once she seemed to be feeling better.

"Who's ready for lunch?" Jim asked, moving to seat himself on the blanket with the two little beings. Ellie's eyes lit up when she saw her father, and she started purring loudly, letting her foot go to raise her arms and clench her fists toward him.

"Aw, I see who's the favorite here," NotEnrique grumped in a playful voice. He released his niece's foot and sat back, his eyes moving to the bowl Jim had in his hands. He sniffed the air and then crinkled his nose. "Eh… I'd prefer socks."

"Good thing I didn't make this for you, then," Jim laughed, setting the bowl down on the floor and picking his daughter up to sit in his lap, her tiny back braced against his stomach. She laughed again, hugging his arm and gumming the back of his hand. "Ellie want nummies?" Ellie squealed happily, patting her mouth with the hand not gripping his arm, and Jim couldn't help the pride that filled him at his daughter's intelligence. It had been Claire's idea to teach the baby sign language, but they hadn't expected her to catch on as quickly as she had.

"Little Monster'll be talkin' soon," NotEnrique said, grinning.

Jim chuckled, spooning the mashed fruit toward his daughter's mouth. She opened her mouth, accepting the food happily. Some escaped her mouth, making red stains on her pale skin, and Jim scooped the mess up with the spoon before it could reach her onesie. "Mm… strawberries. Can you say _strawberry_?"

Ellie tapped her mouth again instead, and Jim laughed, feeding the baby another spoonful of fruit.

"When's Sis gonna be back?" NotEnrique groused as he watched Jim and Ellie. "Ain't Mother's Day supposed to be 'bout spendin' time with your kid?"

"No," Jim snorted, rolling his eyes. "It's about honoring moms for everything they do, which means that — in some cases — a little time _not_ being a mom is an appreciated gift."

"So…" NotEnrique snickered, a wicked expression on his face. "…her spending time with your prostitute sister is a vacation?"

"Sarah isn't a prostitute," Jim growled, glaring at the little imp. Ellie made a sharp noise of protest as she realized that she wasn't the center of attention, and Jim made a soft purr in the back of his throat and offered her another helping.

"Yeah, and I'm really Mona Lisa," NotEnrique cackled, rolling onto his back, his feet grasped in his hands. Ellie laughed at the sight.

"She's _not_ ," Jim repeated, trying to keep the growl from his voice. "She's just… she didn't choose this."

"Yeah, I get that," the imp replied, his tone softening into understanding. If anyone understood about living a life they didn't choose, it was him. "Anyhoo, what are they doin'?"

"Shopping and a spa day, I think," Jim said, shrugging slightly. He fed another bite to Ellie, but she scrunched her face up and spit it out. "What? No more?" She waved a hand in the air, flipping it back and forth. Jim snorted and put the bowl down on the floor again. "Okay, okay… but that means bath time now."

Ellie's eyes widened and she shook her head frantically, giving another cry of protest. She _hated_ baths, which he suspected came from the troll part of herself. Most trolls hated being submerged in water, and while _he_ enjoyed a nice bath, he hadn't been born with troll instincts like Ellie had.

NotEnrique cracked up in laughter again. "Oy, kid! You don't wanna be a sticky mess!"

The baby shook her head again, whining as she turned wide, pleading blue eyes up to her father. She already knew how to work him over to her advantage, the cute little runt. Jim sighed, rolling his eyes; shifting her up into his arms, he turned her so that she laid against his chest. She pushed herself back, her hands braced against his chest, and Jim took advantage of the position to dart his head forward and lick at his daughter's face. She yelled out, trying to lean away and twist out of his grasp, but he moved her around so that she was cradled in the crook of his arm instead. Jim snickered at the displeased look on her face as she realized that she wasn't going to get away, her body going limp in submissiveness as he continued to clean her face. "Don't think this means you'll be getting out of an actual bath later, Pumpkin."

Her only response was an annoyed huff, a little growl trailing after, and Jim laughed again. Even Enrique hadn't been this expressive, despite being a year old when Jim had first met him.

"And what're _you_ plannin', then?" NotEnrique asked, leaning up to scritch at one of Ellie's bare feet. Her annoyance was immediately forgotten as she screeched out a series of giggles.

"A date," Jim replied simply, putting his baby back down in the floor in a sitting position. She laughed and clapped her hands when he handed her one of the stone blocks that AAARRRGGHH! had gifted her. She took it happily, bringing it to her mouth to gum on a rounded corner.

"Oh, so _that's_ why you're tryin' to cook all her favorite foods."

"Yeah, getting the hang of the oven is a little tricky," Jim admitted, absently scenting the air. Thankfully, nothing smelled like it was burning… yet.

Jim had recently made an attempt at creating a stone oven by carving out a new space in one of the thicker cave walls in the kitchen. Well, actually, two spaces — one for the fire underneath, and then another space on top as the actual oven. It was difficult, because he needed a way to vent the smoke out to the surface without the heat causing the rock to crack and cave in. Adding to the danger, was that smoke rising from the forest was a huge red flag to the outside world that something strange was going on, and he didn't want to risk exposure. Thankfully, the latter problem was easily solved when Jim managed to find non-smoke producing charcoal at the local hardware and outdoor store one evening.

Though neither Jim nor Claire had spoken with or seen Barbara or her parents since the night they'd met Anson, both the Huldrekall and Strickler had been in contact with them. A few days after the disastrous event, Strickler had visited (respectfully arriving outside of their cave, per Claire's request) and returned Jim's Glamour Mask, which he had left behind that night. Anson had gone back into hiding amongst his group of rogues, but called often with information, and — sometimes — just to talk. Jim suspected that the troll had been just as intrigued by meeting another of his kind as Jim, himself, had been. He didn't know if he would call them friends, per se, but they were friendly enough. Jim questioned Anson on everything he knew about the Huldrefólk, which was not a lot, unfortunately. The Changeling had been so young when he was taken that he remembered very little of the time when he had been with his people, save for the image of his mother, which he had clung to in the depths of his mind. He described her as a tall, thin woman with slightly tanned, peach-colored skin and long auburn hair that she had often worn in a braid down her back. She had a tail, like Anson's, and broad, white wings that had shimmered with an iridescent glitter in the light. Hulders — Anson told him — were among the few beings in the troll world that could survive the daylight unscathed, though their male counterparts could not. Jim soaked in the information greedily, especially since Merlin had confirmed what Anson had suspected — though, Jim had been born completely human, the reason that the transformation potion had even worked in the first place was because somewhere way, _way_ back in his lineage there had been a troll; and not just any troll, but one of the Huldrefólk.

Jim also wanted the information because he wanted to understand what he was, what Ellie was, and what her siblings would be. Though almost everyone had instantly fallen in love with his baby, there were still murmurs of distrust and aversion from a few. Jim knew his children's lives would not be without challenges, especially from those who viewed them as half-breeds or _Impures_. He needed to be able to explain to his children that they looked different to most trolls and most humans not just because their mother was human, and he wasn't. He needed to tell them exactly what they were, and that it wasn't a bad thing, despite what others might say. He _needed_ them to know that they were beautiful and unique, not something that was hovering in both worlds, no anchor in either. If anything, they would be more grounded in both worlds than even Jim, himself, was.

Another loud squeal from his daughter brought Jim out of his thoughts, and he looked down at her with a loving smile. She was eyeing her uncle with a mischievous look on her face, and then she lifted the block in her hand… and threw it as hard as she could at the little Changeling's head.

"OW! _Dad_!" NotEnrique yelled in a tattletale voice, rubbing the quickly forming knot on his head, and glaring at the baby who was shrieking in hysterical laughter. Jim clapped a hand to his mouth to hide his own snickers, taking a moment to compose his expression into a disapproving one before the baby could see him laughing.

"Eleanor…" Jim called her name in a stern voice, and she looked to him, responding to her name. She was still laughing, but quickly sobered when she saw him start to pick up her toys.

"Ah!" Ellie yelled in protest, quickly grabbing the nearest block and bringing it to her mouth to chew on possessively. Jim held out his hand for the toy, but she rocked back, shaking her head. The movement made her lose her balance, and she fell back, banging her head on the blanketed floor before either Jim or NotEnrique could catch her.

"Shh… shh…" Jim cooed, quickly dropping the toys in his hands to scoop up his crying baby. "It's okay; you're okay. It's just a little bump." Ellie rested against his chest, one of his arms under her bottom to hold her up. She continued to cry furiously, and he brought up his other hand to cradle the back of her head, rubbing the small bump that was beginning to form. Her cries turned to sniffles as she chewed on her fist anxiously. "There, now. It's not so bad, is it?"

Jim's cell began to ring from the bedroom, and he stood to his feet, Ellie still cuddled to his chest. He scooped up the bowl of fruit he had been feeding to the baby and quickly set it down on one of the shelves carved into the wall, before darting into the bedroom and snatching his up phone from where it was laying on the bed, _Eres Tú_ looping back for a second verse.

"Hola, mi amor," Jim greeted as he hit the 'answer' button and pressed the phone to his ear. Dropping his voice into a deeper tone, he continued suggestively, "I hope you're rested up because I have plans for us this evening."

"Well, damn!" responded a familiar voice on the other end, sarcastic amusement in her tone. "I didn't know you felt _that_ way about me, bro!"

" _Sarah_ …" Jim growled in embarrassment. In the background, he could hear the laughter of several female voices, his wife's among them.

"You're on speaker, by the way," his sister snickered. "We're at the salon, and Mama's got her hands soaking, so she couldn't dial."

"Hola, mi amor," Claire's voice interjected, giggling mischievously. Ellie gasped at the sound of her mother's voice and started whining and babbling. Claire's voice came through again, higher pitched and slightly choked. "Oh, is that my sweet girl? Mommy will be home soon, honey. I miss you so much!"

"And your boobs are about to explode," Sarah teased, laughing loudly. "It's not fair! When do I get to meet my niece?!"

"Oh, well, uh…" Jim stuttered, bouncing the excited baby in his arm absentmindedly. "The house is kind of a mess right now, and Ellie is still too young—"

"Oh, jeez!" Sarah said, and Jim could practically hear his sister's eyes rolling. "Overprotective much? Come _on_ , Jim! She's three and a half months old, and it sounds like she's strong enough to be half a year. Besides, we're all going out tonight, anyway, so there!"

"Wait, what?" Jim asked, surprised. An irritated growl reverberated in his chest and Ellie whined a little, her blue eyes wide and concerned as she looked up at him. He swallowed back the growls and leant down to press a soft kiss to his baby's forehead. "Um… sorry, but I already have plans with my wife—"

"Put him on private and put the phone to my ear, Sare," Jim heard Claire murmur, a slightly guilty tone in her voice. There was a slight shuffling sound and then Claire's voice sounded clearer. "Jim…"

"What is she talking about?" Jim demanded. He was more confused than angry — Claire must have known that he had planned something for her, but obviously didn't know that it was a private dinner, so he couldn't blame her if she had made different plans.

"Your mom called me," Claire said in a soft voice. "…to wish me a happy Mother's Day."

He blinked, surprised again. Barbara hadn't called or tried to visit since they'd visited her to meet Anson. Strickler had told Jim that she was embarrassed and ashamed about how things had gone down, but Jim knew there was some anger and pride thrown in there too; his mother was nothing, if not stubborn. He was sure that she was waiting for him to call her first, but he had his own stubborn pride to consider. To him, neither he nor Claire were in the wrong for what had happened, so why should either of them cave and make the first move? "Okay… that was nice of her… I guess."

"Jim…" Claire sighed. "She… she said that she would… be in town tonight."

"Is that code for 'I'm going to magic myself across the country just to mess up your night', but you can't say that, because you're in the presence of mere mortals?"

"Jim, we can't go on like this," Claire replied in a sympathetic, but patient voice. Jim frowned as he realized that his mate had already mastered the stern mom voice. "She made a mistake—"

" _Several_ mistakes," Jim grumbled, turning to sit on the bed. Ellie was starting to doze off in his arms, and he shifted her to lay in the crook of his arm. She snuffled sleepily against his cloth covered chest for a few seconds before giving a grumpy huff when she couldn't find a breast. Jim smiled affectionately down at his daughter, but continued speaking to Claire. "…mistakes that made both you and our baby very sick for weeks."

"Okay, so she made lots of _bad_ mistakes…" Claire allowed, her voice retaining its soft calmness. "But—"

"She _never_ listens," Jim groused, unable to keep himself from venting a little bit.

"Hm," Claire hummed, chuckling lightly. "That must run in the family."

"Yeah, yeah," Jim groused, rolling his eyes as he absently began rocking the drowsy baby back and forth. "And she wanted to go out?"

"Yes," she replied, pausing for a moment as he heard a different voice in the background asking her a question. "The purple color, please… yes, thank you. Anyway, I know you planned something a little more private, but…"

"No, you're right," Jim sighed, though he wasn't too happy about his own plans being waylaid. "It _is_ Mother's Day, so…"

"That's the spirit!" Claire cheered him in a bright voice, and he laughed, rolling his eyes.

"And Sarah invited herself along?"

"No, I invited her," she replied, surprising Jim. "She's been nagging me all day about meeting the baby — what? You _have_! — and…" her voice dropped to a barely there whisper. "…she's in no hurry to go home."

A curl of anger flared in Jim's stomach at his mate's words. "Avoiding _plans_?"

"I don't know," Claire answered honestly, her tone worried. "But I couldn't…"

"I understand," Jim sighed, trying to stamp down the urge to break something. "…does she want to tell…?"

"I don't know," Claire said again, her voice rising a bit from its whisper. "That's your choice, I think."

"What do _you_ think I should do?" Jim asked, desperate for some guidance. "I'm mad at Mom, but this… I don't want to hurt her."

"I think she'll be hurt no matter _when_ she finds out," Claire replied in blunt sincerity. "Not just about her in general, but the… circumstances — regarding her age, I mean. And the fact that we've known about her for a while, and—"

There was a pause and the sound of shuffling again, and then his sister's voice was speaking to him again.

"I can just be a friend, if you want," she said, and Jim was relieved to hear that there was no anger, sadness, or guilt in her voice. "She's _your_ mom, bro. I understand that, even if I wish… anyway, I'll just be a friend."

"I'm sorry, Sarah," Jim said, almost pleadingly, like he was begging her to understand. "I just… she deserves to know, but tonight would be… it would be really bad to do it tonight. She and I are kind of in the middle of a long standing argument right now, and this would be too much on top of that."

"Yeah, Mama said," his sister said, and Jim laughed a little at Sarah's nickname for Claire. "I'll be good, I promise. Please let me come?"

"If Claire already told you _yes_ , I'd be an idiot to try and go against her," Jim chuckled. "Besides, I really _don't_ mind… but can I please get some privacy with my wife _after_?"

Sarah giggled mischievously. "Am I going to have a new niece or nephew in nine months?"

"Not if we don't get some privacy!" Jim teased, rolling his eyes again. "…and I think Claire would kill me if I got her pregnant again, so soon after Ellie. Maybe in a year or two."

"Oh, so you're not one of those guys who wants their little missus on her back, birthing babies all the time?"

" _Sarah_!" Claire admonished with an embarrassed laugh in the background.

Jim laughed. "I think that answers _that_ question. Put Claire back on."

"Ugh, fine," Sarah grumbled in response, and Jim listened as the phone was moved around again, and then his wife's voice was sounding clear through the line once more.

"I bought some things for Ellie while we were shopping earlier," Claire said in a nonchalant voice, her tone suggesting that there was something more to what she was saying. "It's still a bit chilly out, so I found her the cutest cap! It's snug enough to protect her pretty, little ears."

"You mean her pretty, little ears that look like her daddy's?" Jim teased, snickering as he stood from the bed and gently laid the now sleeping baby into her bassinet. "…and her cute, little horns too?"

Claire laughed. "Yes. All those cute things."

"Where are we going?" Jim said in defeat, tucking the phone between his ear and shoulder as he left the bedroom to rescue the food from the oven. It hadn't burnt, and it would keep until the next day, at least. Maybe they could have a romantic lunch tomorrow.

"Sarah said she knows a nice Italian place in the city," she replied. "It's not far from the train station. I'll text you the address, and you can meet your Mom on her train, and then meet us at the restaurant tonight."

"Does she know to portal to me and at what time?" Jim asked, reading into what his mate couldn't say while in the presence of others.

"Yes. I told her around eight thirty," Claire said. "It's late, but I don't want Ellie out all day."

"Or me?" Jim chuckled, shaking his head in amusement.

"Yeah, it's a very nice day," his mate replied in a cheerful voice. "I thought it would be rainy, but there's not a cloud in the sky."

"I don't want to be turned into ash today," he said, laughing again. "Thanks, hon."

"Love you," Claire said in response. "I'll see you and our little Pumpkin tonight."

"Will your boobs hold out that long?" he asked, only half joking.

"A twenty minute bathroom stop, and I'll be good to go," Claire assured him with a laugh. "I also have a couple of tops that I can change into… which I'll need, apparently. I just started leaking."

Jim could hear Sarah laughing in the background and the annoyed _humph!_ Claire let out in response. "Well, I'll let you get cleaned up, then. See you tonight."

"Until tonight, mi amor."

. . .

Jim sighed, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited. The sun had only set fifteen minutes prior, but it had taken him two and half hours to run to the city, Ellie tucked snugly into her sling across his chest. His Portal Charm was only good for portaling to a person that it was linked to, but he couldn't portal to Claire when she was far from alone. If it had been an overcast or rainy day, he could have taken advantage of the Glamour Mask and taken the bus into the city, but the setting sun had shown brightly. Staying in the shadows wasn't difficult, but it added about 45 minutes to the trip.

Now, with the sun having completely set, he was hidden in a vacant alleyway as he waited for his mother to portal to him. He was wearing the Glamour Mask, and while Ellie didn't like it, they had shown her the change in his form several times since she was born. The baby knew both her father's troll form and his human form, though she seemed to realize that the human form was not real and much preferred his natural troll form. Truth be told, Jim preferred his troll form too, and it was sometimes a really weird thing to realize that there was a time — however brief — where his new body and instincts had terrified him.

Jim also really hated the weird looks that he had gotten from the few humans he had run into before he'd hidden himself in the alley. Despite being 17, his human form looked no older than 15 or 16; a teenaged boy carrying around a small infant in a way that couldn't be misinterpreted as anything other than a father carrying his child was bound to raise some incredulous and disapproving eyebrows. He ignored them, holding his head high and proud, but it was infuriating all the same.

Suddenly, the alley lit up with a flash of blue light and Jim turned toward the source. As it faded, Barbara Lake stumbled forward, tripping over her feet. Jim reached out automatically and grabbed her arms, steadying her on her feet; he chuckled as he glanced down and saw that she was wearing heels — short heels, but that didn't mean much for a woman who usually only wore sneakers. She was dressed in a light blue cocktail dress that reached mid-calf, sheer three quarter bell sleeves adorning her arms.

"Oh, thank you, honey," Barbara sighed as she straightened herself, smiling at Jim with a loving and fond look. She lifted one of her hands to gently cup his cheek, her eyes growing warm.

Jim jerked back out of her grasp, his stomach twisting with a flare of anger and frustration. He hated that look, hated that particular brand of fondness in it — she only looked at him like that when he was wearing his human face. Jim knew his mother loved _him_ , but there was no denying that she yearned to have her human son back — the son she had known. He'd been in the middle of a mental breakdown at the time, but he had heard her when she'd called Strickler that night — _this_ Jim wasn't the son that she recognized or understood, even if she still loved him.

"Happy Mother's Day," Jim said after a moment, forcing calmness in his voice. Claire was right — they couldn't go on like this; he couldn't allow this to mess up everything he held dear about his relationship with his mother. With that in mind, he relaxed, leaning back into her arms and giving her a light hug. "I should have called you."

"That's all right, dear," Barbara said, her arms tightening gratefully around him. "I'm just so happy to see y—"

"Ah!" Ellie let out an angry cry from where she was pressed between them, and Jim laughed, pulling back to cradle the baby in her sling against his chest.

"Hush, you," Jim teased his daughter, bouncing her lightly. "You don't have to be the center of attention _all_ the time, you know."

The baby purred in response, smiling as she chewed and drooled on her fist.

Barbara watched the interaction in silence for a few seconds, and then laughed, holding her arms out hesitantly. "You liked to have a lot of attention too. M-may I… may I hold her?"

Jim hesitated for a moment, swallowing back the desire to growl protectively. His protective instincts were not nearly as strong as they had been when his baby had been new and weak, but he was still cautious with her. His mother, however, could be trusted as long as he was right there with her. Swallowing again, he lifted the sling over his head and shifted the bundle into Barbara's waiting arms. Ellie fussed a little, not recognizing the woman she was being given to, but Jim purred low and reassuringly as he slipped the wrap of the sling over his mother's head.

"Oh, she's so beautiful…" Barbara murmured as she took her first proper look at her granddaughter. Ellie gazed up at her grandmother with an intense look, her eyes studying the woman's face. Barbara gave a choked laugh, slipping one hand into the sling to brush the baby's hair. "Hi, there. I'm your grandma. Yes, I am. Oh, you're such an angel, aren't you?" Jim watched as his mother's hand brushed against one of Ellie's horns, and she looked up at him in concern. "Does she have a hat while she's out?"

Jim tried to suppress the feeling of offense that built in him at that question, knowing that Barbara only meant that it would be wise to cover the baby's horns while she was in the company of unsuspecting humans. "Claire has a cap for her. She likes being snuggled up in a cocoon, so just keep her tucked against you while we're out. She said the cap would fit over her horns and ears."

"Her ears?" Barbara asked, frowning in confusion as she looked back down at the baby, her hand caressing Ellie's hair and cheeks. Her eyes widened as she found a slightly pointed ear with her hand, and Ellie fussed again, trying to twist away from the touch.

"Careful," Jim warned, unable to stop the little growl that escaped his throat at his daughter's discomfort. "They don't just look like mine, they're as sensitive too."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Barbara gasped, pulling her hand back carefully. She looked back down at the infant with an apologetic expression. "Grandma's sorry, baby. I didn't mean to hurt your wittle ears. No, I didn't." Ellie started purring, smiling sweetly up at the woman holding her. Jim breathed a sigh of relief as his daughter seemed to accept her grandmother. Barbara, however, startled at the sound and looked back up at him, pulling her hands away from the baby. "Oh, my gosh! Is she okay? What did I—?"

Jim laughed, reaching forward to take one of his mother's hands and guiding it back up to cradle Ellie in her sling. "She's fine — she's purring. We're a lot like cats that way; it means that she's happy."

"Really?" she asked in a breathless voice, her smile stretching her face and tears springing to her eyes.

"Yeah, really," Jim chuckled, giving his mother's hand a brief squeeze before letting it go. "Come on, we should get going. Claire's probably dying to feed the baby and Sarah is probably just starving to death, in general."

"Ah, so I finally get to meet the infamous 'Sarah'?" Barbra asked with a chuckle as she followed Jim to the mouth of the alley. He glanced around carefully; there were a few people walking along the sidewalk, but they had already passed by, so it was easy for Jim and Barbara to slip inconspicuously into the street. "Why is she spending Mother's Day with Claire? Doesn't she want to spend the day with her—"

"I don't think they get along very well," Jim said, shrugging slightly. He needed to divert the conversation quick. "How are you and Pops doing?"

"Oh," Barbara laughed, successfully distracted. "He hates that name, you know."

Jim grinned. "Yeah, that's why I call him that."

"We're all right," Barbara replied after a few seconds of thought. Jim glanced up at her face — curse his shorter human form — and noticed the slight frown that accompanied the unsure tone in her voice.

"Did he do something to hurt you?" Jim asked, growling slightly at the thought. "If he—"

"No, no, nothing like that!" Barbara interrupted him quickly with a small chuckle. "No, he and I are great. He's been trying so hard, you know? It's not easy for him to change everything that was enforced into his existence for centuries, but he's really been doing his best. And I love him, Jim. Like… I really love him."

Jim smiled, reaching over to grab him mother's hand and give it another squeeze. "I know. He really loves you too…"

"Hm…" Barbara hummed, returning his squeeze with one of her own before letting it go.

"What's wrong, then?" Jim prodded. He had grabbed her left hand, surreptitiously feeling for a ring, but there wasn't one there. Strickler had been so adamant about seeking his permission to ask for his mother's hand in marriage, and yet it would seem that he hadn't asked, or… maybe she had said _no_.

"He's been… a little distant lately," Barbara admitted, her frown deepening as they continued to walk. Ellie babbled nonsense in her sling, her purr becoming louder, and he and Barbara laughed at the baby's attempts at cheering her.

"Strickl— I mean, Walt?" Jim corrected himself quickly at the slightly disapproving look his mother gave him. She didn't like when he called Strickler by his last name; she wanted him to view him as family. She didn't understand that Jim already saw Strickler as a father figure — that he had felt that way long before he'd even known what, or who, Strickler really was; but the man was Jim's teacher and mentor before any of that, and it was just a matter of habit that kept him from calling the Changeling by his first name. _Pops_ was sort of a substitute, in a way.

Barbara nodded, biting her lip. "Yes. I don't know what it is — well, no, I take that back." She paused, chuckling darkly. "I do know what it is, but I…"

"What?" Jim asked in concern.

"…how much do you know about troll magics?"

Jim laughed a little, raising an eyebrow. "Seeing as my entire current existence is because of it, probably a lot more than you'd think. Why? Do you think he's under some kind of spell or something?"

"No, no," she replied quickly, shaking her head. "I just… about a month ago, he brought up what happened… with that Angor troll."

"The spell Angor cast?" Jim questioned, though he knew that was it exactly. She nodded again. "Mom… he was a different person then. I'm not saying what he did should be forgiven and forgotten, because it was so beyond wrong that it's crazy town banana pants; but he also did everything he could to reverse it, and make it right again. Did… did he say _why_ he brought it up?" Jim knew _why_ , of course, but he didn't want to elaborate on it if Strickler had just been testing the waters, so to speak, and perhaps hadn't actually explained the _why_ to Barbara yet.

Barbara sighed, shaking her head. "No… but I told him that it was behind us now, and I didn't want to think about that time, because everything is different now — better. I thought he would be relieved or grateful… but he seemed disappointed."

They walked in silence for a minute or two, and Jim slowed his pace a little, his mother slowing to match him at his side. Finally, after gathering his thoughts enough, he spoke in a quiet voice. "I never told you, did I? How Claire and I married?"

Barbara's step faltered for a moment, and Jim reached over to steady her. "You didn't get married; you just call each other husband and wife."

"No, we're definitely married," Jim laughed, giving his shocked mother a sly wink. "Just not by human standards."

"Trolls get married?" she asked, and Jim almost laughed as he remembered when he had asked Blinky almost the same thing. Instead, he nodded, letting go of her elbow to allow his arm to fall back to his side.

"Different terms, same meanings," he shrugged, catching the curious look Barbara was patiently wearing as she listened to him. He hesitated for a minute, unsure of her next response. "Mom… I need you to understand that _this_ is who I am now — _what_ I am. Can you accept that?"

To her credit, Barbara didn't immediately respond, actually taking a moment to think it over and really let the question sink in. When she finally answered, her voice was soft, but confident. "It's hard for me… to see you so different, and to have urges and feelings that I know I'll never truly understand. You were so aggressively… _animalistic_ when Claire was in labor… it scared me. Walt tried to explain to me that you would instinctually know what to do, and how to take care of them, but all I could see were two young and unexperienced kids taking a huge risk. I'm so sorry for that. I may not be able to understand it, but…" she took a deep, shuddering breath. "…I can accept it, at least as well as I'm able. I _do_ miss you the way that you were, but you are my son, and I will _always_ love you with every ounce of my being."

Jim let out his own breath, unaware that he had been holding it as she spoke. "Thank you." There was another moment of silence, and then Jim continued, his voice low and hesitant. "When two trolls get married, they go through a magic ritual that binds their souls to one another."

Barbara gasped, a slightly horrified look on her face. "Do _not_ tell me that you—"

"It's not what you think," Jim hurried to reassure her. "It's not like the spell Angor cast on you and Walt. What he did was nothing more than a physical connection spell — it never touched your souls. That spell only connected your physical bodies; if he got a paper cut, your body manifested the same injury, and vice versa. What Claire and I have is a true Soul Bond. We don't share physical states, but we can feel one another's souls and share our emotions. If she has an injury, I feel her distress, but I don't share the same sensation of her pain."

"So…" Barbara sighed, calming again as she processed what he was telling her. "You couldn't feel the same pain that she was having when she had the baby?"

"God, no," Jim laughed, a shudder of terror going through him. "That would have been awful; but I _could_ feel her emotional distress, and I could influence it with my own emotions, to help keep her calm."

"Weren't you scared?" she whispered tentatively.

"Yes," Jim replied, nodding as his gaze shifted forward, not wanting to see his mother's expression. "I was scared of how much pain she was in and how weak she had become. Right before you showed up that night, she was in so much pain and so weak… she didn't feel like she could do it. My own fear wasn't helping, so I just had to try and stay calm and reassure her as much as I could… and I _did_ know what to do. I don't know how I knew, but I did, and so did she."

Barbara walked silently by his side for another minute, the click clack of her heels on the sidewalk a constant reminder of her presence. Ellie was far from dozing, too excited by the new environment and new person holding her; she hummed and purred and babbled little sounds of nonsense, and it warmed Jim's heart and made a smile twitch at the corner of his mouth. He didn't know if he had given away too much or too little of Strickler's intentions, but it seemed that he had given his mother a lot to think about, all the same.

"Jim! There you are!"

Jim and Barbara came around a corner and were greeted by Claire and Sarah as they stood outside of the little Italian restaurant on the corner of the block. It looked like a cozy Mom and Pop restaurant, but was crowded with patrons, the smells of warm and comforting Greek and Italian foods wafting out from the door that was opening and closing as people went in and left. There was something deliciously spicy mixed in with the scents and, for the first time in nearly a year, Jim was suddenly craving the human food he was smelling. True, he liked Mexican food and could tolerate it just fine, but lack of variety was starting to get to him.

"I was starting to get worried!" Claire said with a laugh as she rushed forward and threw herself into his arms, pressing her lips deeply to his. He kissed her back with equal passion; they hadn't been separated for this long in forever.

He chuckled a little and let his mate go when he felt her wince as her breasts were crushed between them. "Feels like you're already full."

Claire blushed a little, but nodded. "Yeah, I'm going to feed her once we're seated."

"We made reservations a couple of hours ago," Sarah interjected, coming forward to give Jim a brief, but tight hug. When she let go and stepped back, her smile was bright and excited. "They should be calling us in a few minutes. So, let me see that baby!"

Claire laughed, leaning back from the hug she had pulled Barbara into, and shook her head. "After dinner, Sare. I'm going to have to change my shirt again, if I don't feed her soon."

Jim looked to his mother as she still held the baby in her sling and saw a small cap in her hands that she was carefully pulling over Ellie's head. Claire must have given it to her before Sarah could catch sight of the baby's ears or horns. "Sarah, this is my Mom, Barbara. Mom, this is Sarah."

Sarah's eyes lit up brightly, and she was almost bouncing in place with excitement. "It's so nice to meet you, Ms. Sturges!"

Barbara blinked, surprised. "You know my maiden name?"

"Oh, uh…" Sarah's eyes widened, and she struggled for an answer.

"I mentioned it once," Jim quickly interjected. "I… I was telling her about Grandpa's stories from the war."

"Oh," Barbara laughed, rolling her eyes a little. "I'm sure Dad's stories were mostly exaggeration. You can call me 'Barbara,' Sarah. It's very nice to meet you."

"Lake, party of 4?"

They were ushered inside and guided to a cozy booth against the far left wall, a ripple-textured window showing the street and car lights in distorted glows through the glass. Claire was seated on the inside of the booth, by the window, and Jim took the seat next to her. He had taken Ellie from his mother and had passed her into Claire's grateful arms, and the baby cooed and babbled happily to her mother as she shifted her body and clothing around to discretely offer one of her full breasts. Ellie latched on hungrily, the sound of her suckling loud and greedy. An old lady wearing a fur scarf at the table across from them made a noise of disgust, and Jim turned to glare at her. The look on his face must have been intimidating enough, because she turned away quickly, blushing with her eyes downcast.

"So rude," Sarah said, sticking her tongue out at the back of the lady's head as she allowed Barbara to scoot into the booth, and then took the outside seat by her side.

"It's fine," Claire laughed, rocking the baby with a loving expression. "My baby… you're so hungry. Did Daddy not feed you all day?"

Jim laughed, rolling his eyes. "She would only eat a little. She prefers Mommy."

"Well, yeah!" Sarah giggled mischievously. "Boobs are way nicer than a _spoon_!" Jim and Claire burst out laughing at the look of affront on Barbara's face in response to Sarah's exclamation, and Sarah cringed, blushing slightly. "Er… sorry."

Barbara was silent for a few seconds, seeming to gather her thoughts, and then she smiled a patiently amused grin and shook her head. "Well, Jim always preferred mine."

" _Mom_!"

They lapsed into comfortable and playful conversation after that. The spicy scent that had triggered Jim's hunger turned out to be stuffed peppers with spicy Italian sausage; add a handful of peperoncinis as a side, and it was one of the best meals he had ever had, though he did get a lot of weird and aghast looks as he scarfed the peppers down excitedly.

"Careful, love," Claire chuckled as Jim chomped down on another of the spicy little fruits of goodness. "You don't know how your stomach will react to all this new food."

"Aw, does Jimmy have a sensitive tummy?" Sarah teased with a laugh as she messily slurped up a noodle from her plate of spaghetti. The end of the noodle flipped up and smacked her in the nose, splattering marinara sauce across her face, which she proceeded to wipe off using the back of her hand. Her lack of table manners wasn't going far to impress Barbara, Jim could tell, but Sarah was charismatic enough to make up for it.

Jim laughed, shaking his head. "I've never had real Italian food before."

"What?!" Sarah gasped, her eyes widening in playful shock. "I've heard the horror stories about California being full of vegetarians and tofu, but don't tell me it's actually _true_?!"

Claire laughed. Once Ellie had eaten her fill, she had pulled her from the sling and rested the baby against her shoulder, gently patting her back. "No, but real Italian food is hard to come by on the West Coast; we _do_ have you beat in Mexican and Asian foods, though." Claire sighed a little longingly. "I'd give anything for a decent empanada out here."

Occasionally, Sarah's phone would buzz, and she would glance at it briefly and frown at whatever message was sent, though she never responded. Jim was dying to ask her who was texting her, but he thought he might know, just from the look on her face. When the phone started buzzing insistently across the table, he looked to the screen before his sister could pick the phone up and caught the words 'Birth Giver' flashing across the screen. Sarah rolled her eyes and pressed the 'ignore' button, giving her attention back to the conversation. Barbara, however, had also seen the name of the caller and must have decided to assuage her own curiosity.

"Sarah, dear," she said, giving the girl a kind smile. "If that's been your mother all night, she must really want to speak with you."

"I don't want to speak with her," Sarah replied in a cheerful, but blunt voice.

Barbara frowned and glanced toward Jim and Claire, but clearly decided to ignore their wide eyed looks and the shaking of the heads. "Honey… I know relationships with parents can be difficult at times — I'm sure these two have told you that we have been having a difficult time ourselves, lately — but she's the only mother you'll ever have, and we'd do anything for our children. It must hurt her that you've decided to spend such an important day away from her."

"Mom, stop," Jim interjected in a quiet voice, but Sarah kicked him lightly under the table.

"It's all right, Jim," she said aloud, nodding thoughtfully. Turning back to Barbara, she smiled genuinely, though it was a little strained. "I know you believe that, Barbara, and that really means a lot to me, but my mother is… she's not like that. Her idea of 'love' is very different than most, and I… I would rather spend time with people _I_ love, rather than with her."

Barbara's concerned frown deepened, but she thankfully decided not to push the subject, and allowed the topic to be changed to something else. Though Jim could see that Barbara was still curious and concerned, she seemed to push it into the back of her mind — likely to interrogate him and Claire later.

"Mm… that chocolate gelato has to be the best ice cream I've ever had. Breyers has been holding back on us," Claire sighed a little later as they all walked down the street toward a park that Sarah knew of, merely taking the time to walk off their heavy meal and spend time together. Despite the initial upset his mother had caused to his plans, Jim was glad that she had insisted on visiting. It was the first time in nearly a year where he felt like he could truly be himself with Barbara — well, as much as he could be while wearing a disguise, anyway.

"Jersey sucks," Sarah laughed, absently kicking a pebble down the sidewalk. "…but you'll never find better Italian anywhere else. Wait until you've had the pizza at Seaside Park! Oh, and nothing beats a WaWa sub! Basically, we have the best food anywhere."

"Except Mexican and Asian foods," Claire teased, laughing as she softly bounced Ellie in her arms, pressing a kiss to the baby's cheek. The infant responded by screeching in laughter and pressing a sloppy, open-mouthed baby kiss back to Claire's chin.

"Wow, are you sure that kid's only three and a half months old?" Sarah questioned, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "I mean, she looks it, but I thought babies that age only ate, slept, and pooped?"

"She's special," Jim said, reaching over to gently scratch under his baby's chin. "Aren't you, love? My beautiful girl."

"Careful, I'll get jealous," Claire teased, leaning over to catch his lips with his own. He happily kissed her back, but wished that he was wearing his normal face.

"Ugh, can I _please_ hold her now?" Sarah demanded in a whiny voice. "I'm dyin' over here!"

"Oh, all right, already," Claire chuckled after a second of gauging her daughter's mood. Ellie was happy and comfortable enough, so Claire gently handed her over to Sarah, reminding her to hold the back of the baby's head. "And be careful her cap doesn't come off."

Sarah snickered, rolling her eyes, but took Ellie into her arms with extreme gentleness. Ellie chewed on her fist as she blinked up at her aunt, and then smiled and waved her slobbery fist in the air, trying to touch Sarah's face. "Oh, my gosh, you are just the cutest little brat ever, aren't you? I'm Aunt Sarah, and I'm going to spoil you rotten. Yes, yes, yes." Ellie giggled shrilly in response, and Jim wrapped an arm around Claires waist when she leaned into his side, the both of them watching the scene play out before them fondly. A little bit of the baby's hair was sticking out from under her cap, and Sarah's eyes widened as she noticed the white amongst the black. "I thought that was dye on you, Claire?"

"No," Claire smiled, reaching forward to gently brush Ellie's downy hair and tuck it back under the cap. Jim hid a laugh, knowing the origins of the hair discoloration, but they couldn't exactly explain to Sarah that the piece had, in fact, once been dyed blue, but a deadly outpouring of magic power had permanently altered both the color of the streak and Claire's genetic makeup.

"Well, that just makes her even cuter," Barbara said with another laugh.

"Sarah! Jesus fucking Christ, bitch! I've been calling you all night!"

"Oh, my God, no," Sarah gasped as they all looked up at the voice. A tall, bottle blonde haired woman in a tight, spaghetti strapped, thigh length sequenced dress was jogging casually in their direction from up the sidewalk, an angry expression on her face — a face, Jim noted, that looked almost exactly like Sarah's, except the woman's eye color was brown, rather than Sarah's green. The woman was barefoot, holding a pair of extreme high heels by their straps in one hand, while her other held a cell phone, the screen lit up with a map.

Jim could hear Sarah's heart start to pound, and Ellie must have heard it too, because she began to fuss. For a moment, Sarah hugged the baby closer to herself, almost protectively, and then gently handed her niece back to Claire. She turned away as soon as the baby was back in her mother's arms, and then ran forward to head off the person that Jim assumed must be her mother.

"Well, you found me, so let's go," Sarah said, grabbing the woman by the wrist and attempting to drag her away in the opposite direction. "You wanted me to go to that meeting with you, right? So, let's—"

The woman snorted a laugh, digging her heels in and standing firm against Sarah's strength. "Wanted? It's not about wanting — they paid for you, so you're going to get your scrawny ass back home before they decide that they've waited long enough and want their money back! Which would be _bad_ ," the woman laughed, leaning toward her daughter to continue speaking in a mischievous undertone. "…because I already spent it on your birthday present! Spoiler alert: lots of lube!"

"Thanks," Sarah replied in a less than thrilled tone. She tried pulling on her mother's arm again, but the woman still refused to move. "Come _on_ , Mom!"

"Wait…" Barbara said, stepping forward. She had a confused look on her face, and Jim was about to pull her back — just so he could punch the woman himself — when she continued speaking and everyone froze at her words. "Jenny? Jenny Greene? Is that really _you_?"

"Oh, God, it just keeps getting worse," Claire groaned under her breath, deftly tucking Ellie back into her sling, despite the baby's squirming. She liked being paid attention to and wasn't happy about being hidden away.

The woman whipped around at Barbara's voice, and her brown eyes widened in shock as they landed on Jim's mother. To everyone's surprise, both women gave excited shouts and ran forward to hug each other tightly. Sarah stood in shock for a second and then rushed to Jim's side.

"They _know_ each other?!" she whispered frantically in his ear.

Jim shook his head harshly, his eyes wide and heart pounding. "I…"

Barbara must have been too distracted by trying to figure out who the woman was to have really taken in what she had been saying to her daughter, because she turned back to them with a huge smile and tears in her eyes. "Jim, Claire, this is Jenny. She was my best friend in high school!"

Jim felt sick.

"Oh," Claire breathed out in a weak voice. In her sling, Ellie was starting to fuss and cry as she reacted to her parents' distress, and Claire bounced and shushed her absently.

"Well," Sarah said with a nervous laugh. She stepped forward again and tried to reach for her mother's hands again. "Small world, right? But we've got that thing, so we should—"

"Now, wait a minute, Sarah," Jenny said in a calm voice, a smirk pulling up the corner of her mouth. She was giving Jim the creepiest once over he'd ever experienced, and though her gaze was centered on him, he pulled Claire and his daughter behind him. He only wished that he could be in his true form — this woman wouldn't dare mess with anyone ever again if faced with a furious, protective troll with a giant, magic sword. "Jim, hm? James's boy…"

It was not a question.

Barbara laughed, oblivious to the knowing undertone in her friend's voice. "Yeah, he does look like him, huh? But James and I divorced a long time ago — Jim was just a little boy." Turning back to Jim, Claire, and Sarah, Barbara explained with a laugh. "For a while, Jenny and I were both trying to get James's attention. Believe me, girl — you were the lucky one to get away!"

Sarah made a distressed sound in the back of her throat, her eyes growing even wider. Jenny must have heard the sound and turned her dark eyes on to her daughter, her smirk widening. Despite being a deplorable person, she clearly wasn't stupid. "Oh, my love… making connections, are we?"

"Um…" Sarah's heart was pounding in overdrive, her breath coming in short pants. Jim reached over and grasped her wrist as he scented the fear and panic coming off of her. Even without his extra senses, his own experience with anxiety would be able to tell him that his sister was about to have a full blown panic attack.

Another thing that the two of them had in common, apparently.

"Sarah is your daughter?" Barbara asked, her smile bright. "Oh, my gosh! It really _is_ a small world! No wonder she and Jim get along so well!"

Jenny gave a short, soft laugh, stepping back from Barbara's loose embrace, her eyes glittering in a way that made Jim shiver. "I think they're even the same age! Sarah will be 17 next week."

"Mom, please stop," Sarah begged in a weak, breathless voice. " _Please_."

"Jim and Claire are 17," Barbara confirmed, too excited by seeing her friend again after so many years to catch on to the clear tension surrounding them.

"Claire, hm?" Jenny repeated, her eyes shifting over Jim's shoulder to look at Jim's mate. He tensed, resisting the urge to growl threateningly, especially when the baby began to cry. Jenny's eyes widened and then she laughed loudly. "Don't tell me you're a grandma already, Barb?"

"My first," Barbara nodded, smiling proudly. "She's only three and half months old."

"James could never keep it in his pants, either," Jenny said with another laugh, and Barbara frowned, biting her lip.

"No, it's not like that," she replied quickly, waving her hands in front of her to dissuade that train of thought. "Jim and Claire are married."

There was a beat of silence and Jenny's smile grew even wider and more sinister. Claire gasped behind him, terror beginning to grow and push through their bond, causing Jim's own heart to start pounding away; however, he didn't need to feel what she was feeling to know what she was thinking. That smirk was almost identical to Morgana's. Jim knew there was no connection between the two women — Jenny was a normal mortal woman — but that sneaky and devious smirk was telling enough to show that this woman was plotting something.

"Well, James was married too, but that didn't stop him from sleeping with me, did it?"

"Wh-what?" Barbara breathed out, taking a shocked step back from the other woman, her eyes wide. "Jenny… if that's a joke, it's not funny."

"Oh, come on, Barb," Jenny snickered, darting forward to press a swift teasing kiss to the redhead's cheek. "We always did share everything, so why not baby daddies too, hm?"

 _To be continued..._

❆ _**PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!**_ ❆

❅ _As someone who grew up in New Jersey, I can confirm that it sucks to live there; however, the food is amazing. Especially Italian food. Even if you're not Italian by blood, if you grew up in NJ, you're basically Italian by default. If you ever visit Seaside Park, be sure to get some pizza from The Sawmill (on the pier); it's the best pizza you'll ever have in your life. Mmm... now I'm getting hungry._

❄ _In the show based book series, Jim actually does suffer from a mild anxiety disorder, which is only hinted at in brief moments in the show._


	27. Chapter Twenty-Seven

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

➳ _Happy New Year, my loves! This is a short chapter, and I apologize for it being so late. Holidays are a hectic time to find enough time to just sit and write for any length of time. Hopefully, the nest chapter will be up sooner, and it will definitely be a bit longer. Enjoy!_

 **Chapter Twenty-Seven**

"That's not funny," Barbara whispered, her face pale and her body trembling. She was shaking her head slightly as she stared at the smirking Jenny in shock. "Don't—"

"Oh, come on, Barb!" Jenny repeated herself, giggling in false innocence. She darted lightly toward Sarah and grabbed her daughter's arm, dragging her into her arms. She grabbed Sarah's cheek, pinching it slightly. "Isn't she a cutie? Took after Daddy in the looks, didn't she?"

"Mom, stop," Sarah said, tears beginning to spill over as she saw the horrified look of realization on Barbara's face. "Please, you're high. Please—"

"Hush!" Jenny snorted a laugh as she let go of her daughter's face to reach behind her and smack the girl's backside, and then dipping further down and squeezing in a way that was definitely _not_ motherly. Sarah's eyes widened in mortified embarrassment as she tried to squirm away, her face turning bright red.

Jim had enough.

"Get. Your. Hands. _Off_ ," Jim growled in a low and dangerous voice as he moved forward in one quick movement. He grabbed Jenny's wrist and ripped her hand away from her daughter's backside, squeezing tightly enough that he could feel the bones shifting beneath the skin and muscle. He wanted to rip her hand completely off, and he had to silently remind himself at her pained gasp that he was actually strong enough to do so, and he should probably stop before he risked exposing himself. Throwing the woman's hand away, she stumbled back a few steps, and he moved into the space she had created. Jim crossed his arms over his chest, standing straight backed and confidently protective in front of his sister. "You should leave."

Jenny stared at him in shock for a few seconds, clutching her hand to her chest, and then she started laughing hysterically. "Wow, kid! Where do you get those balls? Not Barb or James, that's for sure!"

"Jim," Sarah said in a hesitant voice, and he felt her place a shaking hand on his shoulder. "I c-can—"

"If you really want to go with her, I won't argue," Jim said in a low voice, glancing back at his sister to see her red face. "…but don't let her bully you into this or touch you like that."

"Aw," Jenny cooed in a teasing baby voice, still giggling drunkenly. "Is wittle Sarah getting big brover to protect her?" Snorting with laughter, she looked to Jim again, her baby voice dropping. "Don't let that whore fool you, kid. She loves everything that's done to her."

"Mom, _stop it_ ," Sarah begged in a mortified undertone. Jim couldn't blame her; the streets weren't crowded, but being so close to the park meant that they weren't completely deserted either — between the crying baby, the woman who was barely dressed and clearly high as a kite, and the very pissed off teenaged boy, two or three people had stopped to watch.

"What about James?" Barbara said, finally finding her voice again, as well as her temper. Jim could hear the dangerous tone in her now hardened voice, and he almost wilted back from the sound of it. "Jerk as he is, I can't imagine he would put up with this disgusting beha—"

"Honey, you didn't know your husband at all, did you?" Jenny snickered, holding up her cell phone and shaking it playfully. "But, hey! I'll call him to come pick us up, and you can ask him yourself."

Barbara gasped, and Jim heard heart beginning to pound all over again. "He's _here_?"

"Mmhm," Jenny hummed, biting her lip coyly. "He's driving around on the other side of town, looking for this one here." She gestured to Sarah with her phone. "I tracked her phone, though. James would have let her hide and claimed he couldn't find her. He's cute, but dense. Definitely a good fuck, though — but you already knew that."

"Shut your mouth!" Jim growled, his hands clenching into shaking fists at his sides. "Don't you _dare_ talk that way to my mother!"

"And my daughter is upset enough without your foul language, lady," Claire interjected, trying and failing to soothe the bawling infant.

"Tch," Jenny scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Cool it, kid — it's your own fault for getting knocked up. Junior takes after daddy, huh? Too arrogant to bother with protection?"

"That's none of your business!" Jim snapped.

"Well," Jenny snickered again, winking at Claire with a sly expression. "If you want to turn your mistake into a profit, I know some people who _really_ like little ones, if you know what I—"

" _Jim, don't_!"

Jim ignored the scream, his troll temper snapping. The ever present Amulet in his pocket started pulsing, even Ywain trying to hold back the power that Jim was trying to summon. He didn't care, refused to listen. Screw exposure! This vile woman had just said the wrong thing, and he was the worst person she could have said it in front of. He took an advancing step forward, one hand reaching into his pocket to grasp the Amulet, while the other lifted to his face to rip the Glamour Mask away. He felt both of the magics giving in at the same moment that he saw the shocked and horrified look cross Sarah's mother's face. As he gained height, she stumbled back in shock, and he felt his armor start to materialize around him. Before the armor could snap to his form, a blinding flash of blue light enveloped them. The sudden surge of power, and the unmistakable drop in his stomach that came with portal magic distracted him enough to realize what he was about to do. As he attempted to dig his heels in to reel back from his forward movement, the light died down, and he was met with the familiar sight of his own cozy cave.

There was a beat of silence as Jim turned away from the empty space in front of him and back toward his family. His mother was staring back at him in relieved shock, her hands covering her mouth and tears staining her cheeks. Claire was clutching a whimpering Ellie to her chest and panting heavily, a slight wobble in her stance. With a harsh jolt, Jim realized that his mate had used her own magic to create a portal around them, rather than relying on the charm Merlin had given them. Worried, he moved to take a step toward his mate when something else caught his attention from the corner of his eye.

Or, rather, some _one_.

"Sarah…" Jim said in a slow voice, taking a cautious step back from her wide-eyed and horrified expression as she stared at his armored and very _in_ human appearance. "It's okay, Sarah. It's me. It's Jim."

Sarah shook her head frantically, mouthing words that her voice refused to vocalize.

"I'm sorry," Claire panted in a low voice, stumbling a few paces back to sink into the couch. She patted the seat next to her as Sarah ripped her gaze from Jim to her. "I'm sorry, Sare. I had to get us out of there, so I used some magic to take us home."

"…magic?" Sarah repeated in a raspy whisper, seemingly frozen in place.

"I'll…" Barbara started, looking grief stricken and sick to her stomach at the same time. She shook her head and turned to go into the kitchen. "I'm going to make some tea."

"The herbs are on the third shelf to the left, Barbara," Claire called out, absentmindedly rubbing Ellie's back. Jim remained in his place, not wanting to scare Sarah any more than she clearly already was. Gesturing for her sister-in-law to sit by her again, Claire continued speaking calmly. "Yes, magic. Jim can use magic too, but his is different from mine."

"He's…" Sarah looked to Jim again, a strange noise building her chest, like a confused scream unsure of whether to voice itself just yet or remain tucked away. "He's… what is he?"

"I'm _me_ ," Jim grumbled, annoyed but understanding. Upon the discovery of magic, trolls, and other such mysteries, Sarah was reacting with more calm than _he_ had, for sure. "I'm still the Jim you've always known… but this is what I really look like."

"He's a troll," Claire explained, and _finally_ Sarah — wobbling slightly from shock — took the seat by Claire, biting her lip as she glanced back at Jim and cringed before turning her gaze back to Claire as she continued. "Technically speaking, he's a half troll. He's also what's known as the 'Trollhunter'."

"You…" Sarah began, cocking her head a little and frowning in confusion. "You hunt other trolls?"

"Sort of," Jim said, shrugging. He reached up to his chest and disengaged the Amulet, allowing the amor to dissipate back into the Void. "I'm a protector of the human and magical worlds. I hunt those who would threaten to expose the lives of mythical creatures to the human world by way of evil."

"Like… a knight? A knight that happens to be… a troll?" Sarah asked, swallowing thickly as she cradled her shaking hands in her lap.

Jim rolled his eyes, remembering his mother referring to his status in the same way. "More or less."

"But… Dad's normal," Sarah replied, and Jim flinched at the word she had chosen to use. "And Barbara is too…"

"It's kind of a long, complicated story," Jim admitted, sticking his hands in his pockets and averting his gaze to the floor, not wanting to see the fear in his sister's eyes. "But there was a really evil troll and a witch that were threatening to take over the world, and I decided to trade half of my humanity to become strong enough to defeat them."

Sarah was silent for a few seconds, and then gave a slightly hysterical giggle. Jim looked up only to see her looking a little manic. "This is a really bad trip, isn't it?"

"No, honey," Barbara's voice rung out in a tired and defeated tone. They looked up to see her leaning against the wall by the kitchen entrance, a hand rubbing tiredly at her forehead. "This is very real."

Sarah's expression sobered, and then she stood up abruptly and started marching right toward Jim, a determined and hard look in her eyes. He stumbled back until his back hit the wall and cringed away, squeezing his eyes closed in preparation for the punch or slap or whatever his sister planned to lay on him. Instead, he _did_ feel her hand land on his face, but the touch was hesitant and trembling. Gasping, he snapped his eyes back open to stare down into Sarah's wide eyed, but curious expression.

"You're… warm," she murmured, her eyes roving his face intensely. Her thumb brushed gently over the scar on his cheek that had been left from Angor Rot's dagger. "I thought you'd be cold."

"I'm a troll, not _dead_ ," Jim joked in a weak voice, growing increasingly uncomfortable with the girl's scrutiny.

Sarah, on the other hand, seemed to be coming to terms with things, or she had just decided she was dreaming, because she reached up and grabbed his full horn and yanked his head down to get a closer look. "What happened to the other one?"

"Ow, hey!" Jim grumbled, trying to gently twist out of her grasp. "It broke off in a fight a few months ago. Ow!" Sarah yanked on the appendage again, and he reached up and grasped her wrist in attempt to pull her hand away. She held on stubbornly. "They _are_ attached to my skull, you know."

"Sorry," Sarah replied, not sounding the least bit remorseful, though she did let go of his horn. Jim released her wrist as she let go, but her hand went back to his face, pulling down on his left cheek and leaning closer until her face was barely an inch from his. "Your eyes are the same."

Jim could hear his wife and mother giggling in the background, amused by Sarah's intense study of him. "Well, yeah. Why wouldn't they be?"

"I don't know," Sarah said, shrugging. She released his cheek and reached around for one of his ears instead, yanking on it like she had with his horn and peering into it. "Can you hear better than a normal person?"

"Can you _please_ stop using the word 'normal'?" Jim growled, crossing his arms over his chest as he gave in and let his sister peer at him any way she wanted. That only lasted a moment, however, as she froze and then jerked back a little at the sound of his growl. Annoyed as he was, he didn't want to scare her, so he forced the growl down into a low purr instead. Unexpectedly, she leaned her whole body forward, and he stiffened in shock as she rested her ear against his chest.

"Oh, my gosh!" Sarah squealed excitedly, much to Jim's surprise. She gave another low, excited scream and nuzzled into his chest. "You're like a big _cat_!"

"Well, I guess I'm glad you're taking this so well," Jim sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, I've decided that if I'm not tripping, then I must be dreaming," Sarah informed him in a flippant voice. "It's a crazy dream, but better than the nightmares that I usually have."

Jim frowned and looked over Sarah's head to exchange a worried glance with Claire. She was leaning back against the couch, Ellie now dozing against her chest. Biting his lip, Jim sighed again and brought his hands up to grasp his sister's wrists and pushed her back gently.

"Sarah…" he said, leaning down to catch her eyes with his. His frown deepened as he realized that her pupils were dilated and the scent of adrenaline was rising from her. She really did think she was just imagining this. "Look at me, okay?"

She nodded, focusing in on his face. "I am."

"This isn't a trip or a dream," he said in a quiet, firm voice. "This is _real_. I really am a troll. Claire really did use magic."

"…real?" Sarah repeated in a whisper, her pupils contracting and expanding. "This is… real?"

"Yes," Jim nodded, squeezing her wrists lightly enough to remind her of his physical presence.

"Oh," she replied, nodding. "Right. Of course."

And then her body went limp, her eyes rolling into the back of her head. Barbara and Claire gasped in shock, but Jim still had his sister by the wrists. He kept her from hitting the floor and pulled her up enough that he could scoop her up into his arms, and then brought her over to the couch and laid her down as Claire stood to make room.

"Is she okay?!" Claire worried in a soft voice, gently rocking the baby in her arms.

Barbara came forward and leant over Sarah, pulling one of her eyelids up to check her eye. "She's just fainted. I think it would be best to just let her sleep and come out of it on her own."

Jim nodded, eyeing his mother's professional expression closely. "Are _you_ okay?"

"Not particularly," his mother replied in a short, clipped tone, standing to her full height again and walking back into the kitchen without another word.

"Great," Jim sighed, rolling his eyes. Claire came to his side and rubbed his arm reassuringly. Bending slightly, Jim pressed a kiss to his mate's forehead and then gently nuzzled the top of Ellie's head. The baby yawned, snuffling further into Claire's chest. "I'll talk to Mom, if you want to lay down with Ellie."

Claire smiled gratefully, leaning up on her tip toes to catch his lips with hers. "I'll be right there, if you need me."

"Love you," Jim replied in a whisper. They exchanged another soft kiss, and then separated. Jim took a deep breath and braced himself for the oncoming argument, and then followed after his mother, while Claire disappeared into their bedroom with the baby.

Barbara stood on the opposite side of the kitchen, staring down at the carved out counter, where a steaming mug sat, a pile of mismatched herbs piled up next to the cup. Her expression was getting more frustrated and angry the longer she stared down at her would be tea.

"The Feverfew and Willow Bark are the best for headaches," Jim said in a calm voice. He walked up behind his mother and then moved to her side, separating the previously mentioned herbs from the haphazard pile she had created.

"Tch," Barbara scoffed, rolling her eyes, but she took the herbs from him and put them in the mug of hot water to steep. "You don't have some Excedrin?"

"Pills don't have much of a shelf life amongst trolls," Jim replied with an amused chuckle. "They're too curious. Besides, Ellie is already on the move; it'd be a bad idea to leave bottles of pills around."

Barbara finally looked up at him, startled. "She's crawling already?!"

"It more of a scoot," Jim chuckled, relaxing a little at his mother's distraction. "…but she'll be crawling and climbing soon enough."

His mother looked a little green and dizzy at this information. "I think I need something for nausea too."

"Willow Bark works for that too," he said, reaching over to separate all of the herbs back into their correct piles. He plucked a couple of bright green leaves from a few stems and handed them over to his mother. "Here's some mint."

Barbara took the leaves from his and added them to her cup. Suddenly, she chuckled, averting her eyes from his again. "I suppose this makes you like a doctor too."

"Hardly," Jim laughed, rolling his eyes. "I just know what Dagny's told me."

"Then she's a good teacher."

They stood in silence for a minute as they gathered their thoughts; or — in Jim's case — his courage. It didn't matter that he'd known his mother was going to be upset no matter when she found out — the fact of the matter was that she had found out at the worst time, and in the worst possible way.

"Mom…"

"How long have you known about this? About… _her_?"

"Since Christmas," Jim admitted in a guilty whisper, averting his gaze to stare down at the counter.

"Damn it, Jim!" Barbara ground out in a voice that suggested that she wanted to scream, but was trying to keep herself in check. Jim cringed, biting his lip as she followed up her exclamation by pounding a clenched fist onto the counter. "So, what? You-you've just been… what? Hanging out with Dad all this time? So, he got to hold the baby before m—"

"No!" Jim interrupted in a firm voice, looking up to meet his mother's glare with one of his own. "Dad's _never_ met Ellie. I've only seen him once, and it was just long enough for me to say a few choice words and that was it. Look," he looked away from her angry expression briefly, gathering his thoughts again, and then looked back up with his own anger. "I know we haven't been on really great terms this past year, but do you really think I would just up and forgive him for what he's done to us?"

"Well, I don't know," Barbara said with a short, bitter laugh, rolling her eyes. "I feel like I don't know you at all, anymore."

Jim felt his heart twist in his chest, his stomach dropping at the admittance. True, he'd known that she felt this way, but to hear her admit it aloud and with such unexpected anger and bitterness in her tone, was like getting punched in the gut. He could feel Claire trying to respond to his emotions, but his own feelings were too intense to be soothed; he mustered up enough mental fortitude to send a vague feeling of false reassurance back to her. To cover up the pain, he concentrated on the anger instead.

"If you really believe that I could be so incredibly different than how I was as a human," he growled out, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. "…then you didn't know me very well, even then."

"Jim, I didn't mean—" Barbara started, her eyes widening as she must have realized how she sounded.

"Don't," Jim said, holding up a hand to stem her frantic words. "Don't try to apologize for telling me the truth."

"But I didn't mean it that way!" she replied, her eyes beginning to glisten with building tears. "I just—"

"Bro, you got any alcohol up in this cave? I feel like I'm going to need it to process all of this."

Jim and Barbara both looked up, startled, as Sarah stumbled her way around the corner, her expression a little green. She froze as her eyes landed on them, clearly in mid-argument, and then she and Jim were both cringing back as Barbara made a choked scoffing noise in the back of her throat. A second later, there was a blinding flash of blue light, and when it cleared, Jim and his sister were left alone.

"Oh…" Sarah breathed, still frozen in place. "So, she uses magic, too?"

Jim sighed, smiling sadly, although he relaxed a little as he noticed that his sister was no longer manic or scared. "No. It's a charm that she can use to travel back and forth."

"To anywhere?" she asked, cocking her head to the side, like a curious cat. "You know, I've always wanted to go to Europe."

Jim laughed, turning and leaning back to rest against the counter and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "It doesn't work like that. It has to be linked to specific people or places. Her charm is linked to her home in California and also to me and Claire. We have charms that work the same way, but oppositely."

"But…" Sarah rubbed her forehead with the heel of her palm, as if trying to ward off an increasing headache. "Claire said she _used_ magic…"

"Yeah, she doesn't usually," Jim explained, shrugging. "Not for travel, anyway — it takes too much energy. Her specialty lies is dark magic."

"Dark…?" Sarah repeated, his lips twisting into a confused, yet slightly amused pout. "I can't imagine Mama being evil."

Jim laughed. "She's not, but… it's a long story."

"Well…" Sarah laughed awkwardly, swinging her arms back and forth and snapping her fingers in an increasingly tense move. "I don't feel like going home to a gang bang, no matter how much they paid, so… a long story doesn't sound so bad."

Jim growled at the reminder, baring his teeth in agitation. Sarah looked frightened at the sound, and he tried to swallow it back and tame his snarl. "I told you before that I wasn't going to tell you what to do, but… you're more than welcome to stay here as long as you want. You don't have to go back at all, if you don't want to."

"And you have no idea how much I appreciate the offer," Sarah replied, relaxing her stance to lean back against the wall. "…but I should probably head back at some point for damage control. You _did_ expose yourself, however briefly."

"I'm hoping she's high enough that she'll think it was a hallucination," Jim admitted, though this thought hadn't occurred to him at the time.

"That's likely," his sister laughed, shrugging again. Pushing herself away from the wall, she took a few steps forward to stand in front of him, her head tilted up as he looked down at her. "Like I said… this is going to require some alcohol. Got any?"

Jim bit his lip, shaking his head. "We have a pub, but I don't know if you'll like troll liquor."

"I'm willing to try anything once," Sarah said with a laugh and a sly wink.

. . .

"Ugh…" Jim groaned, his head pounding as he rolled over onto his stomach and buried his face into what felt like a pillow. From the familiar scent coming from the object, he could discern that he was in his own bed, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember how he got there. The more he tried to recall what had happened, the more his head throbbed in agony.

"Ah, I see the love of my life has finally decided to join the living once more," Claire's softly amused voice rang out from his left, and then he felt her soft, warm hand gently brush down his bare back.

Jim grunted in response, his stomach rolling sickeningly. "What happened…?"

Claire laughed, mercifully soft. "Well, you came back from the pub in quite a state."

"The _pub_ …?" he questioned, even more confused. As he turned his head and cracked his eyes open to blink tiredly at his naked and ruffled looking mate, he cringed back from the scent of moldy socks on his breath. "Ugh… Deya, please tell me that I didn't drink Glug."

Claire laughed, leaning forward despite the scent, and pressed a gentle kiss to Jim's forehead. "Oh, I think you drank a lot of it."

"Oh, god…" Jim groaned again, burying his face back into the pillow in complete embarrassment. " _Why_ would I—?"

"Well, you were a bit too… _amorous_ to really do much talking," Claire giggled, nuzzling into his neck lovingly and nipping behind his ear. He shuddered, a spark of desire rushing through him only to be snuffed out by another twist of his stomach. "…but I think it had something to do with your sister."

"Where is she?" Jim asked, having trouble recalling anything after Sarah had passed out in his arms. "On the couch?"

"No," Claire giggled again, a feeling of mischief flowing along their bond. "She has a higher tolerance for alcohol than you; she brought you back home, and I made a traveling charm for her to use to get back to her place. She texted me when she got there and said everything was fine."

"Never again," Jim swore, trying to hold down the urge to puke. As he breathed in slowly to try and settle his stomach, another familiar scent caught his attention. "Wait… did we have sex?"

Claire laughed, cuddling into his side and nipping at his earlobe seductively. "Oh, yeah. A lot of it."

Jim groaned for a whole new reason. "God damn it."

"What?" Claire chuckled, rubbing her hand up and down his back soothingly.

"It's the first time we've made love since the baby was born, and I can't remember any of it," Jim explained, growling slightly in annoyance as he turned his head to blink at his wife again. Her face was flushed with a heady mixture of excitement and amusement, and then she shoved him over on to his back and climbed on top of him.

"I will be happy to recreate the event," she responded with a snicker, her fingers brushing seductively down his chest, causing chills to travel down his spine. Jim was surprised and even more frustrated that he couldn't remember the events of the night before when he felt how wet and sticky his mate was as she sat on his stomach.

"Wow, I guess we _did_ have a good time," Jim laughed, gently gripping Claire's thighs and pushing her body further down his to line them up. Despite his headache and nausea, the desire he was feeling, combined with her own, was quickly overriding everything else.

"I'll make this one even better," she whispered, leaning forward to catch his lips, their tongues tangling together. He felt one of her hands moving between them to grip him lightly.

And then the baby started crying.

"Thanks, Ellie," Jim groaned, laughing in frustration as Claire leaned back and smiled apologetically at him. Reluctantly, she pulled away from him and rolled out of the bed and walked across the room to retrieve the fussy infant from her bassinet.

"You couldn't wait 20 minutes for your breakfast, Miss Ellie?" Claire cooed as she scooped the baby up to cradle in her arms. By the time she had turned and made her way back to bed to snuggle with Jim, Ellie had already latched on and was suckling greedily, her eyes wide and teary. The baby grunted in response, and Jim and Claire laughed.

"You know," Jim began, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. "I can still get to you and you can feed her, if you lie on your other side."

Claire snorted a laugh and rolled her eyes. "I draw the line at having sex with the baby right there in my arms."

"She doesn't know," he laughed, leaning forward to nuzzle Ellie's little cheek. He laughed harder when she scrunched her nose up and turned her face further into her mother's chest as she smelled his breath. "I guess that's my cue to brush my teeth."

"Admittedly, that would make you even more desirable," Claire replied, reaching up to stroke his cheek lovingly. She scrunched her nose playfully, a feeling of familiarity sparking along their bond as she grinned up at him. "You smell like you've missed a few showers."

Jim laughed, hugging his girls briefly before releasing them and rolling himself out of bed and stretching his muscles. "All right, all right, I get the picture. Yeesh, a guy can't even have a good morning around here."

"You had a _very_ good night," Claire replied teasingly, grinning and waggling her eyebrows.

"I don't remember it!"

" _I_ do," she said, biting her lip and — to Jim's surprise — blushing. Deya's grace, what had they done to cause her to blush like that? Claire hadn't blushed since the first few times they'd ever had sex.

Jim growled, his frustration mounting. "Damn it."

"If you can wait until nap time, I promise to make it up to you," his mate responded, giggling mischievously.

Jim sighed and rolled his eyes, but grinned back. "I'm holding you to that."

"Promise."

 _To be continued..._

✧ **PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!** ✧


	28. Chapter Twenty-Eight

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

➳ _I watched 3Below. It's added a whole new level to my plot, and I am so excited! Enjoy!_

 **Chapter Twenty-Eight**

A few weeks later, and Jim was able to remember most, if not all, of the details from his night of drunkeness. It really wasn't as bad as he had feared; he hadn't been rude, or loud, or obnoxious to anyone (thank God), but it was now well-known throughout Trollmarket that he — a big, strong troll — had been outdrunk by a weak, human teenager. Only Glug and a couple of other trolls had actually met Sarah, and they had no idea who she actually was, and Jim had declined to share that information when questioned over it. Blinky and NotEnrique were the only ones who knew who Sarah really was, but they had yet to actually meet her, and Sarah had been a little too nervous around a bunch of unknown creatures to ask for anyone's name.

His night with Claire came back to him in full detail, with a little help from his mate treating him to a 'reenactment' when the baby finally went down for her nap, and he could understand why she had blushed. She had said that he was 'amorous,' but that was an understatement — he'd been mortified to remember that he had been nothing more than a horny mess when Sarah had helped him back from the pub, and he'd nearly undressed Claire right in front of his laughing sister before his mate had used her magic to hold him in place long enough to make a travel charm for Sarah. It was a good thing that Ellie was a hard sleeper, because he'd pounced on his wife as soon as he'd been released from her spell. They'd been wild, rough, and not at all quiet. In fact, they _had_ woken the baby at one point, but Claire had been quick to soothe her before Jim could drag her back to him. He wasn't sure if the resulting crack in the kitchen counter could be repaired, given that it was carved into the surrounding solid rock.

"I think you're coming down with something," Jim mused aloud as he watched Claire trying to wrestle Ellie into one of her dresses. The baby thought it was a great game, and was wiggling stubbornly while screaming with laughter.

"Wh-what?" Claire replied, looking up at him in distraction. Ellie noticed and managed to fling a booty off across the room. Claire growled in frustration and glared down at the baby, who just giggled in response. Looking back up at Jim in exasperation, she continued, "What makes you think that?"

"You smell weird," he replied, shrugging and then laughing at the affronted look that she shot him.

"Gee, thanks," Claire said in a flat voice before turning back to the baby and making another attempt to pin her arms down.

"No, I mean…" Jim laughed again, rubbing the back of his neck in an awkward gesture. "You've got this… sweet scent… coming from you; but it's wrong — too sweet, like sickly."

Finally managing to get Ellie into her dress and buttoning up the back, Claire lifted the baby up and hugged her to her chest, bouncing her lightly. Walking over to Jim, she passed the baby to him and went to retrieve the booty that had been flung off. "I don't feel sick."

Jim hummed to himself thoughtfully as he leaned down and blew a raspberry against his daughter's cheek. The baby squealed and babbled happily in response, her little hand gripping his shirt in a tight fist. "Maybe it's just a cold or something."

"Does Ellie smell different?" Claire asked, coming back over and deftly slipping the lost booty back onto the baby's foot. She pressed a gentle kiss to Ellie's forehead, and Jim knew that she was feeling for a fever. She brushed her hand through the baby's downy hair, rubbing gently at the base of one of her horns, and Ellie purred happily in response, her eyes drifting closed in lazy pleasure. Jim and Claire both chuckled at the look, and the baby grinned back at them. "She seems fine."

"No, her scent hasn't changed," Jim replied, pressing his own kiss to his daughter's forehead. "The scent's coming from you."

"Well, you know…" Claire said, giving Jim a fond smile before turning away and walking over to her dresser and grabbing her hair brush. Her hair had grown in the past year, now falling to lie mid-back, and she brushed it up into a quick and high ponytail, taking a moment to put on a thin coating of lip gloss. "My cycle's been all weird and non-consistant since the baby was born… maybe my body is just now starting to readjust itself. I do have a bit of cramping… maybe that's it?"

"Maybe," Jim shrugged, frowning in concern. "I don't remember you smelling like that during your period, though."

"Granted, you've only smelled that scent once before," Claire laughed, turning back toward him and tugging lightly on the hem of her black, knee-length dress. "Well, how do I look?"

" _Hear my soul speak:/ The very instant that I saw you, did/ My heart fly to your service_ ," Jim quoted with a playful grin, and Claire laughed, her eyes widening.

"Impressive, Mr. Lake," she replied with a laugh, walking up to him and leaning up to press her mouth to his. Ellie squealed and laughed between them, and they pulled back from each other, chuckling. "When did you read _The Tempest_?"

"Just last week, actually," Jim said, shrugging as he grinned down at his mate. "You were at Merlin's, practicing voodoo, or something like that—"

" _Necromancy_ ," Claire corrected with a small laugh and a grimace. "Though I don't anticipate ever using it — Merlin says it's important to know, however."

"I can't imagine a situation where raising the dead could ever be important," Jim admitted, cringing at the mental image of a walking corpse came to mind. "Anyway… Ellie was fussy — I think she's got a few back teeth coming in, and her horns gained another centimeter — so, I grabbed your collection and started reading to her."

Claire laughed. "Shakespeare as a bedtime story…"

"Hey, my mother used to read me Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body," Jim teased, scrunching up his nose in distaste. "At least Shakespeare has a plot going."

"Shakespeare doesn't have pictures, though," Claire replied, laughing as she grabbed her flats and slipped them on her feet. "Ready?"

"What do you say, Miss Ellie, hm?" Jim bounced the baby in arms lightly, laughing as his daughter screeched with giggles. "Ready to spend the night with Uncle Toby?"

"Ah!" Ellie laughed, purring again as she recognized the name of her uncle.

Claire laughed again, and then paused, her face flushing for a moment, and then paling again. "Oh… oh, wait… okay… I'm okay."

"What happened?" Jim asked, taking the few steps forward to close the distance between them. He shifted the baby to be held in his right arm while wrapping his left around his mate, frowning as he noticed the slight tremor in her hands as she gripped his arm back. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Claire replied, smiling again and shaking her head. "Just a little dizzy spell, but it's fine."

"Claire—"

"No, it's okay," Claire insisted, leaning up to give a quick lick to the underside of his jaw. "I only had some bread and butter for lunch, and I nursed her about an hour ago, so my energy is just a bit low, that's all."

Jim's frown deepened, and he brought his hand up to cradle her face gently, his thumb brushing lightly over her cool lips. "Why didn't you eat?"

"Well, we're going out, right?" She replied, her lips puckering to press a kiss to his passing finger. "Besides, I need to go on a diet, anyway. I can't get rid of the last of this baby weight."

Jim rolled his eyes. "C'mon, Claire… you think I care about a few extra pounds?"

"Well, _I_ do," Claire laughed, stepping back to grab at her stomach and pinching the bit of puffy flesh there for emphasis. "This used to be all muscle."

"And I used to have a human face," Jim argued with a teasing laugh, rolling his eyes. "But we both changed."

"I can't believe it's been a whole year," Claire sighed, not so subtly changing the subject. "We've been _married_ for a whole year! I mean, isn't that crazy? A little over a year ago, we were just a bit more than normal 10th graders, and now—"

"We're high school drop outs, living in a cave with a half troll baby?" Jim snickered, and then laughed harder when she smacked his arm.

"I love the way things turned out, mister," she said, poking him lightly in the chest and tickling Ellie's belly.

"Me too," he admitted with a fond smile. He was a bout to say something else when his phone buzzed in his pocket, his _I am Gun Robot!_ text tone ringing out repeatedly.

"I wish you would change that," Claire said with a laugh and roll of her eyes. "It's the most annoying ringtone ever."

Chuckling, Jim pulled his phone from his pocket, tapping it awake to see the series of incoming texts from his best friend.

 _Dude, are you coming or not?_

 _Darci's over here freaking out._

 _AAARRRGGHH! wants to play with the baby._

 _And we have a surprise!_

 _You're not going to believe it!_

 _Jesus, what are you doing? Did you and Claire decide to skip the date and go right to the main event? ;) ;) ;)_

"All right, all right," Jim snickered, typing a quick reply before stuffing the phone back into his pocket. "Toby's getting impatient."

"Do tell," Claire said in a sarcastically amused tone.

Swiftly, she moved back across the room to a shelf carved into the wall and retrieved their Travel Charm and the Glamour Mask, the latter of which she handed off to Jim. He slipped the mask on, and a moment later he was standing in his human form, his clothes changing to a pair of black slacks and a white, button-up dress shirt. In his arms, Ellie fussed unhappily, lifting a hand to pat his cheek and tug on his ear.

"Hey, shh," Jim bounced her again, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "It's okay. You know I'm still the same person. Daddy's here."

Ellie frowned and babbled grumpily in response, and Jim chuckled again. He bounced the baby higher up his chest and playfully licked her cheek, causing her to squirm and laugh. Claire laughed as she hooked her arm with his, and a few seconds later, they were surrounded by a flash of blue light. Before the light had cleared, the sound of a surprised shriek was let out from somewhere off to Jim's right, and the familiar whooshing sound of a weapon being swung through the air was coming closer.

"Wait!"

"Don't!"

"Zadra, that is Jim and Claire!"

Jim threw an arm up to block the incoming blow, a small, crackling explosion sparking between the energy of the double ended, scythe-like weapon and the magic of his forming gauntlet. Growling, he was about to shove the screaming baby into his mate's arms and rip the Glamour Mask from his face when he made eye contact with the person who had attacked him.

Or, rather, the non-person.

"What the—?" Jim gasped, letting Claire grab the baby, and then shoving his girls behind him protectively.

"No, no! Zadra, it is the _okay_ ," an accented female voice said in a frantic voice. Jim glanced behind the inhuman, glowing blue being in front of him to see Aja and Krel trying desperately to calm the unknown female creature. "They are our _friends_! You even _saw_ Jim when the sky went all funny last year!"

"I do not recall your friend looking so… _human_ ," the Zadra woman exclaimed with a fierce expression, bearing down heavily with her strange weapon. "This _imposter_ has defeated your friend and stolen his armo— ah! Unhand me, Sir Troll!"

AAARRRGGHH! grunted as the woman struggled in his arms, and Jim relaxed slightly as her weapon dropped to the floor, flickered, and then… turned into a protractor?

"Um…"

"Oh, Zadra is just very protective," Krel laughed, waving a hand dismissively in AAARRRGGHH!'s and Zadra's direction. "She is a fierce warrior, but she has… what is the human term? Ah, mixing insanity! Yes, she has contracted the mixing insanity from being stuck here on your primitive planet."

"You mean… stir crazy?" Claire asked, rocking Ellie gently to soothe her cries.

"Is that not what I said?"

"What is going on?" Jim demanded, glancing around the packed backyard that they found themselves in.

He recognized it as Toby's yard, and tables covered in decorations and piled with various foods were lined up along the fence. Low background music was playing from somewhere inside the house, floating through the open windows. The yard was filled with familiar faces, save for that of the tall, glowing woman that AAARRRGGHH! was struggling to keep from escaping his arms. Toby and Darci were standing together, holding each others' hands, while Mary stood on Darci's other side, Eli next to her. Nana, Strickler (in his human form, Jim noticed), and Barbara were by the back door, looking like they had rushed out at the sound of the commotion. Aja and Krel were standing right in front of Jim, nervous smiles on their faces as they tried to calm the situation. Standing right behind Aja was Steve, standing with his chest puffed out, his arms crossed over his chest in an arrogantly smug stance.

"Yes, well, you see," Aja said, laughing nervously, and Jim's eyes widened in surprise as she reached behind her for Steve, and the boy took her hand lovingly in his. "We are weirdos! Like you!"

"Wh-what?" Claire asked incredulously, finally getting Ellie to calm down. The baby fussed and babbled, trying to twist around in her mother's arms to see what was happening.

"What my sister means," Krel said with a roll of his eyes and a laughing smirk. "…is that we are not from this planet."

"Wait, what?" Jim asked, glancing between the siblings who _looked_ very much human and the tall and glowing woman who was clearly _not_ human, but not any kind of Earthly creature he had met before. Even the scent she gave off wasn't like anything he had smelled before, almost like the scent of lightning or burning ozone. Now that he was concentrating on it, Jim realized that Aja and Krel were giving off the same scent, though it seemed to be suppressed somehow, as if they were covered in a perfume of human pheromones meant to disguise their natural scents. "You're… _aliens_?"

"We prefer the term _inter-planetary beings_ ," Krel replied in a smart voice, steepling his fingers together and beginning to pace calmly, as if he were a teacher about to begin a lesson. "Although, technically speaking, we are _Akiridions_ from the planet _Akiridion-5_."

"So… there's an Akiridion 1, 2, 3, and 4?" Jim asked, relaxing enough to disengage his armor as the warrior woman gave up her fight and hung in AAARRRGGHH!'s arms with a petulant expression.

"In fact, while we are classified as a planet," Aja answered with a smile. "…the Akiridion planets are technically orbital moons of the _much_ larger planet, Cancrimuarae."

"That's a mouthful," Jim replied, taking Claire's free hand in his as she moved from behind him and stood by his side. Aja's eyes went wide as she saw the baby, and she let go of Steve's hand to dart forward, stopping just short of throwing herself at Claire.

"Oh, oh!" Aja exclaimed, bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet. "Is this the larval product of your carbon-based cells merging?"

"Well, _that_ is officially the most unromantic way someone could say that," Claire laughed, letting go of Jim's hand to turn the baby around so that she could sit up in the cradle of her arms and face the people. "This is our daughter, Ellie."

"Oh, hello, little larva," Aja cooed, wiggling a finger in the baby's face. Ellie watched the digit carefully for a few seconds and then grabbed it, giggling happily as she brought the finger to her mouth and bit down. "Oh!"

"Sorry!" Jim gasped, cringing at the death glare that Zadra was giving him at Aja's exclamation. "She's teething. She didn't mean to—"

"It does not hurt," Aja assured them with another laugh and a dismissive wave of her hand in Zadra's direction.

"A question, if I may?" Krel interjected, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he came to stand by his sister and looked the baby over. Jim noticed that the strange boy's eyes lingered on his daughter's small, but prominent horns. "If my understanding of human biological processes is accurate, the females of your species birth live young from their own bodies, correct?"

"Uh…"

"How, then, did you survive the birth?" Krel continued after pausing only long enough for everyone to share embarrassed and awkward looks.

"Krel, it's very unusual for someone to die in childbirth nowadays," Barbara said in a lightly amused voice as she, Strickler, and Nana made their way forward to join the others. Jim noticed her trying to catch his eye, and he averted his gaze, looking pointedly back toward Krel.

"But she has _horns_ ," Krel emphasized, gesturing dramatically to the baby who was happily chewing tin his sister's finger. "My understanding is that the infant must pass _through_ the mother's—"

"She didn't have horns when she was born," Jim explained quickly, interrupting Krel before he could say something that would embarrass everyone. "Not like they are now, anyway. They were just flat, little bumps on her head."

"How do _your_ people give birth?" Claire asked, trying to ignore the giggles and snickers of the others by turning the question around.

"We are energy based," Aja said, lifting her free hand to tap a finger against the center of her chest. With each tap, a light blue glow pulsed from beneath her clothing and flesh. "When two people decide they want to have a child together, they each deposit a part of their own energy into a Life Crystal, which then becomes the new individual's Life Core — what you would refer to as a heart, or soul. From there, the new being is held in stasis for several parsons, and they are removed to be cared for physically when they have reached a larval stage. From there, we grow in much the same way as humans do. We even have roughly the same life spans! Except that we can regenerate, if we are damaged, as long as our Life Cores remain intact."

"Nothing as gross as human reproduction, though!" Krel said, making a disgusted face. "Why must everything about your kind include _bodily flu_ —"

"Little Brother, do not be rude!" Aja interrupted her brother, admonishing him without ever breaking her gaze or smile from the giggling baby.

" _Anyway_ ," Toby said, rolling his eyes and grinning widely. "Surprise?"

Jim chuckled, smirking at his best friend. "I guess the weirdness makes sense now. Wait, Aja… are you and Steve… _together_?"

"What?" Aja asked, frowning as she looked away from cooing at the baby to give Jim a confused glance. She gestured to Steve standing a few feet behind her. "Steve is over there, and I am over here, so no, we are not together right now."

"No, Babe, he's asking if we're dating," Steve corrected in an adoring voice.

"Oh, I see," Aja replied, her smiling widening into a matching love sick expression. "Yes. Steve and I have been courting since a bit before those bad troll creatures attacked and caused that lunar anomaly last summer."

"Wait, you've been dating for a _year_?!" Claire exclaimed, an excited squeal rising in her chest. Turning to Mary and Darci, both of whom had slightly guilty looks on their faces, she continued, "Did you _know_ about this?"

"The dating? Yeah," Mary said, shrugging innocently. "The other parts? Not until recently."

"Why didn't I notice?" Claire asked, mostly to herself, but a laughing Darci was the one who answered.

"Well, I think you guys were kind of wrapped up with trying to defeat an evil troll and sorceress, so we're not gonna fault you for not being totally up on the gossip."

"Wait…" Jim repeated again, thinking back. "But… didn't I hear something about you kicking Steve in the face, Aja?"

Aja gave a guilty laugh, gently pulling her hand back from the baby to gaze in embarrassment at her slobber coated finger. "Ah, well, it was… a misunderstanding."

"A _misunderstanding_?" Krel exclaimed with a roll of his eyes. "He punched me in the face! He made my nose leak!"

"Yeah, I never did apologize for that, did I?" Steve said in a thoughtful voice, frowning in thought.

"No, you did _not_!"

"Well, too late now!"

"Wha— why, you—!"

"Happy verse day!" AAARRRGGHH! shouted in a booming voice, his patience clearly running out. The alien woman in his arms rolled her eyes, her chin resting in her hands as her elbows braced themselves against the giant troll's embracing arms.

Claire laughed, her expression softening. "Thank you, AAARRRGGHH!"

"Yes, happy anniversary," Strickler said, coming forward and pulling Jim and Claire into a light hug. Ellie squealed excitedly at the sight of the man, though she kept glancing behind him, no doubt looking for the familiar wings that she was used to. Though not as much as with Jim, Ellie had seen both of Strickler's forms a few times, so she knew that he was the same person. Releasing them and stepping back, Strickler smiled adoringly at the happy baby, scritching her lightly under the chin.

"Ellie is always so happy to see Papa," Claire laughed, calmly offering Ellie to Strickler, who was more than happy to take the infant, cuddling her closely to his chest. Jim couldn't help but laugh as the always tight look on the man's face melted into the most ridiculous look as he gazed down at the baby in his arms.

"Happy anniversary," Barbara said in a subdued voice as she stepped forward next to her boyfriend. She made no move to embrace them, her gaze averted, and her hands clasped together in front of herself nervously.

"Thank you, Barbara," Claire replied after a tense second where it was clear that Jim was not ready to respond. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her mother-in-law and Barbara froze for a second before grabbing Claire and hugging her back tightly, burying her face into the younger girl's neck. "I'm so, _so_ sorry."

Clair glanced back at Jim helplessly, and he sighed, giving up and coming forward to hug his mother. "It's okay, Mom."

Barbara released Claire and threw herself into Jim's arms, though in his human form, he was a lot shorter than her. She trembled in his arms, hugging him back tightly. "It's not. I'm sorry. I…"

"I told you not to apologize," Jim reminded her in a soft voice, tightening his arms around her. "I understand."

Barbara's grip on him tightened briefly before she let go and stepped back, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. She gave him a weak smile, which he returned briefly, before they were bombarded by the others. Hugs, kisses, well wishes, and congratulations were shared, and soon everyone had plates of food and were sharing stories and gossip. Aja and Krel's story was fascinating, but he felt kind of bad that they were basically stuck here, so far from their overtaken home, indefinitely. He didn't know what he could possibly do to help them, but Jim swore to them that if there was anything that he could ever do to help them to let him know. He'd laughed loudly in surprise when the siblings had launched themselves at him, embracing him tightly in thanks.

"It is quite fascinating," Krel had said as they pulled back from each other. "I have a thought: what if we were somehow able to combine magic with Akiridion technology? I wonder what the result would be?"

"That's probably not something that we would want to experiment with in an uncontrolled environment," Claire chuckled from where she was standing with Mary and Darci. "Magic can be very dangerous, unchecked."

"Yes, Toby has said that you can rip through dimensions!" Aja said, looking to Claire in excitement.

Claire glared at Toby, who chuckled guiltily and shrugged. "Sorry?"

"I _used to_ be able to," Claire replied to Aja, nodding slightly as she took a sip of her drink. "And it was just one dimension — the Shadow Realm."

"You lack this ability now?" Krel asked, cocking his head to the side curiously.

" _If_ I wanted to, I could probably still do it," Claire admitted, shifting her stance uncomfortably as everyone's attention was concentrated on her. Jim didn't miss the way that she winced a little with the movement, her hand moving to rub at her side. "It would require almost all of my energy to do it, though. Before, I had a staff that was imbued with dark magic; it made creating portals through the Realms a lot easier, as I wasn't pulling solely from my own power."

"I also don't think sharing Akiridion technology with these primitive beings is advisable, my lieges," Zadra said from her spot leaning against the fence by the dessert table. She had a bowl of fruit salad in her hand, which she was plucking pieces from with her long fingers.

Aja rolled her eyes, shooting an apologetic look toward the humans. "Zadra, these are our _friends_ , and we trust them."

Zadra looked like she wanted to argue, but averted her gaze back down to her salad, mumbling grudgingly. "As you say, my Queen."

"Please forgive Zadra," Krel said in a low voice, glancing back in concern at the woman. "She is concerned for our people, and being stuck here only saddens her and makes her angrier."

"We are worried for our people too," Aja continued when her brother paused. "…but there is little we can do from here. Our technology is in enough repair to keep in contact with the Resistance back home, but it is frustrating to not be able to be there and act ourselves."

"And what would you do, if you could act, my Queen?" Zadra spoke up angrily. "You ran away from every diplomatic training session you were ever supposed to take!"

" _I_ took the lessons," Krel said, glaring at the woman harshly, his head held high.

"And I am a warrior!" Aja insisted, her fists clenching angrily at her sides. Jim jerked back, a little startled when the blonde girl blinked, and her eyes became black and a fluorescent, glowing blue. "I can fight!"

"You have been here for more than a year, and you still can't even remember to renew your transduction matrix on time!" Zadra argued, gesturing pointedly at Aja's now glowing form. Her body seemed to flicker for a moment, and then a whole new being was standing in front of them, all metallic blacks and bioluminescent blues. The only thing recognizable about the girl was the shape of her face and eyes; if not for that, and the sound of her voice, she would be completely unrecognizable. Only Jim and Claire seemed to be surprised at the change, everyone else seemingly taking it in stride, and Jim realized that they had all likely seen both Aja and Krel in their normal forms before. "And a few fighting lessons from a traitorous larvox—"

"Do _not_ speak of Varvatos like that!" Aja cried, tears welling up in her eyes. "He was a good man who made a mistake! And if you had _continued_ to teach me—"

"A queen does not engage in battle!" Zadra shouted, punching AAARRRGGHH!'s shoulder as he waved a hand at her in an attempt to signal her to quiet her voice. He was sniffing the air nervously, his ears twitching, and Jim gave his giant troll brother a questioning look.

"People," AAARRRGGHH! grunted, nodding his head toward the house. He made another nervous grab for Zadra, who pushed him away while glaring Aja down.

"We'll teach you," Claire said, not noticing Jim's and AAARRRGGHH!'s distraction, and shooting her own glare at Zadra.

"You will?" Aja gasped, turning and throwing herself at Claire, hugging her tightly. "Oh, thank you! I will not disappoint y—"

"You will do no such thi—" Zadra started, but AAARRRGGHH! finally managed to snatch her up into his arms and then flung both of them over the fence to hide in the surrounding woods.

"Hide now, fight later!"

"Wha—?"

"Darci?" a deep male voice rang out from just inside the house. "I think they're in the back yard, Sue."

" _Dad_?" Darci gasped in a confused whisper, and then she scrambled for her pocket, pulling out her phone and cringing as she looked the screen over. "Oh, no…"

" _Hide_!" Jim gasped, grabbing one of Aja's many arms and shoving her under one of the tables, making sure the cover fell low enough to hide her form, though the glow was still obvious. Mary, Steve, Eli, and Krel rushed forward to stand in front of the table in an attempt to hide the light.

"Where's the baby?!" Claire gasped, looking around frantically for her child as the sound of the voices came closer.

"I have her!" Toby exclaimed, and Jim and Claire both relaxed as they turned to their best friend and saw him holding Ellie close. Jim dove for his bag, which had been tossed on a chair, and quickly yanked out the baby's sling and threw it to Toby. The boy caught the cloth and turned his back to the back door just as it opened and Detective Scott walked through with an unknown woman, though she looked a lot like Detective Scott. She was short and squat, dark-skinned with thick, short hair that was slicked back in a style that would have fit in with the 1950's. Even her glasses, thick and horn-rimmed, were old-fashioned, as was the military uniform that she was wearing.

"Oh, kleb!" Krel exclaimed in a low, shocked voice. Jim turned to look at the boy, and he was disturbed to see his expression downright terrified and a little sick looking.

"Krel?" Jim whispered, reaching over to clasp his shoulder, shocked to feel Krel trembling as his wide eyes moved to meet Jim's. "What is it?"

"That woman," he whispered back in a frantic voice.

"You know my Aunt Sue?" Darci asked distractedly, having caught Krel's exclamation. Thankfully, she kept her voice low, and it was clear that she wasn't happy with the appearance of the woman either.

"We may have met briefly, once," Krel said in a hoarse voice, his eyes riveted to the woman who had yet to notice the kids as she and Detective Scott were being welcomed by Strickler, Barbara, and Nana.

"Really?" Darci asked, scrunching her nose in confusion. "I don't think she's had leave in years, not that she ever takes it." Catching Jim's confused look, she continued, "She works at the military base up the coast."

"Area 49-B?" Toby asked as he came over, the baby safely covered in her sling, which Jim took from his best friend and slipped over his shoulder. The baby was blinking up at him curiously, but was yawning and sucking her thumb, clearly ready for a nap, so she didn't fight being snuggled into her sling. "Don't they work on super secret advanced tech? I heard they have a new type of jet in the works, based on the theoretical concept of energy-based li— oh."

"She knows what you are?!" Claire whispered frantically, and everyone jerked back as magical energy began to swirl through the air around her.

"Claire Bear!" Mary gasped, grabbing Claire's hands and tugging like she was about to throw Claire under the table with Aja. "They're going to know what _you_ are, if you don't get your power under control!"

"Is that Jim and Claire I see?"

Jim whipped around at the sound of Detective Scott's voice, giving the man a nervous smile as he absently rocked the baby. "Oh, uh… hi, Detective Scott!"

The man's eyes widened a little as they landed on the bundle in Jim's arms. "Hello, Jim. I heard the rumors, but I hoped you would have had a better head on your shoulders."

" _Dad_ …" Darci groaned, covering her face with her hands in embarrassment.

"As long as you don't get the same idea, princess," Detective Scott went on in a mildly scolding tone. Toby started giggling anxiously as Darci's father turned his glare on him.

"Brother, are you going to introduce me to our little Darci's friends?"

They all looked over as the woman came up next to Detective Scott, a tight smile on her plump lips as she fingered her glasses carefully. Jim would have thought the gesture nothing more than an adjustment of her eyewear, if he hadn't noticed the calculating look she was giving them all as her eyes moved over each person in front of her, and he didn't need to be in his troll form to have his troll hearing. There were strange noises coming from her glasses — beeps and whirs in decibels so high that a human would never be able to hear them. Acting like he was rocking the baby, Jim stepped in front of Krel; at the same time, Steve and Eli moved in from either side to further block the boy from view.

"Ah, yes," Detective Scott said, turning to his sister with a smile and gesturing to each person as he introduced them. "Sue, this is Toby, Darci's boyfriend; Mary and Claire, Darci's best friends; Steve, Eli, Jim, and… wait, wasn't Krel here a minute ago?"

"Krel?" Darci repeated, shrugging cluelessly. "Oh, he and Aja had to leave before their curfew; I'm afraid that you just missed them."

"Oh, that's all right," Sue laughed lightly, but the sound was a little creepy, and Jim tensed as the woman's eyes moved to him again. He couldn't move and expose Krel, but the somewhat greedy look the woman had on her face as she adjusted her glasses once more made him want to cringe back. Her eyes widened as they came to a stop on the sleeping baby in his arms, a clicking and buzzing sound chirping out from her glasses. "James Lake, hm? I've heard some interesting stories about you."

"Y-you have?" Jim asked, swallowing thickly. He glanced frantically at Darci, but the girl looked just as confused and shrugged. "Well, it's a small town; you shouldn't believe everything that you hear."

"Yes…" she replied in a calculating and thoughtful voice. "Some of it was… a bit _fantastical_. But I'm being rude! I see you have a little one there! What's its name?"

Jim bristled, his teeth grinding together in agitation. From the way she spoke and the look that she was giving him, there was no doubt that this woman knew what he was, or — at least — knew that he wasn't human, nor could his child be. Her choice of words was meant to ire him, to get him to slip up somehow, but he refused to fall into the trap. "Her name is Eleanor."

"Fascinating…" she said in a low undertone, genuinely sounding fascinated as she stared at the sling as if she could see straight through it. "May I—"

 _CRASH! Skssshhh!_

"What the—?"

Everyone jumped at the sound of exploding glass and the popping and sizzling sound of sparking electricity. Another small explosion rocked the air, and a shower of sparks fell down around them. Jim looked up just in time to see the transformer on the closest telephone pole spark out small bolts of electricity and start smoking, and then the lights for the whole block flickered out, and they were plunged into complete darkness — save for the blue glow coming from under the table behind them.

Purposefully moving back and knocking into Krel, they both hit the table hard, causing it to topple forward. Using the commotion, someone quickly thew the tablecloth over Aja and backed her up against the fence, right next to the gate door. Jim could hear Toby being loud and purposefully clumsy as he stomped around and tripped over people's feet, knocking people down and pushing them aside. Steve, Eli, and Darci rushed in to "help," and proceeded to entangle themselves into the mess of tripping people, purposefully making things worse. Jim took the opportunity and grabbed Krel and Aja, pulling them out of the back yard and into the surrounding woods, Mary dragging a shocked looking Claire out after them.

"Whew!" Mary gasped and panted as they finally came to a halt after running for a minute or two. They were well enough into the woods that they couldn't see the house or hear any people anymore. Leaning forward to brace her hands against her knees, Mary continued with a breathless laugh. "Did you do that, Claire? Good thinking!"

"I wasn't thinking," Claire replied in a shaking voice, and Jim could feel the fury boiling in her soul. "I was just so angry that she would talk about my baby that way that I lost control."

"Here," Jim said, lifting the sling from his head and passing Ellie into her mother's grateful arms. The baby was fussing, confused and upset, and Claire rocked her gently, cooing sweetly to her. "Take the Travel Charm and go home. Mary, will you go with her?"

"Sure, but…" Mary said, shrugging with a confused look on her face. "What are you going to do?"

"We've got to find Zadra!" Aja exclaimed, the tablecloth folded around her head and body like a hooded cape. "If she thinks there is a chance that we will be discovered, she will attack without mercy!"

Jim nodded, having surmised as much from what little he had garnered from the strange, but protective woman. "And AAARRRGGHH! He's better at hiding because he's used to it, but he'll kill to defend himself or his pack." Turning back to his mate, Jim leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, his hand coming up to briefly cradle Ellie's head. "I've got to make sure everyone is safe; I'll be home in a few hours."

"Okay," Claire sighed reluctantly, and Jim was honestly a bit surprised that she had given up so easily.

"What, no fight?" he asked with a fond chuckle.

Claire rolled her eyes, but gave him a tired smile. "I think maybe you were right about me coming down with something."

"Hah!" Jim barked a laugh teasingly. "I knew it!"

"C'mon, Claire," Mary said, coming up behind her best friend and hugging her. "Let's get you home, especially if you're not feeling good. Jimmy Jam will be fine."

Claire nodded tiredly and stepped back, letting Mary move to her side and hook their arms together. With her free hand, she reached up to clasp the charm, which had been strung around her throat as a necklace. A few seconds passed, and then there was a flash of blue light; when it cleared, Claire, the baby, and Mary were gone.

"Seklos and Gaylen, that is fascinating," Krel gasped, twirling in a circle as he looked around for any trace of the girls. "I will have to study your magics closely before experimentation."

"Yeah, but later, okay?" Jim chuckled, glancing around and sniffing the air to make sure they hadn't been followed.

"You should go back to Mother," Aja said to her brother, grasping his two arms with her four hands and giving him a light shake. "Your transduction is still in effect, and you will not be noticed in the streets. Zadra might have gone back. I will stay with Jim and help him search for her and AAARRRGGHH!"

"Good idea!" Krel said, breaking free of his sister's hold and holding a finger in the air smartly. "I will call you if I find either or them. You call me if _you_ find either of them! Everything will be the _okay_."

Jim laughed, shaking his head in amusement. "Your positivity is admirable."

"Or annoying," Aja said with her own snicker and fond look directed at her brother.

"Ha ha!" Krel barked sarcastically, turning to run off into the dark. "I will call you!"

They waited until he was out of sight, and then Aja dropped the cloth from around herself, and Jim reached up to pull the Glamour Mask from his face. There was a flash green light as he changed, and then he was looking down at Aja instead of directly at her.

"Oh, I did not realize that you were so tall in your true form!" Aja exclaimed, clasping her upper two hands together under her chin as she looked him up and down. "What does Claire's troll form look like?"

"What?" Jim asked, blinking back the disorientation from his transformation and sniffing the air again. With the stench of the Glamour Mask removed, he could now pick up the different scents around them with little difficulty. "She's human."

"She is?" the glowing girl said in a confused voice. "But… are you not a troll pretending to be human? Like we are Akiridions pretending to be human?"

"Well, yeah," Jim replied, shrugging as he started walking further into the forest, gesturing for Aja to follow him. AAARRRGGHH!'s scent was faint along this path, but recent enough that Jim could discern that his brother had either come or gone along this way. Chances were that they might have to double back, but it was a direction, and it led _away_ from the currently very dangerous back yard of Toby's. "But that's just me, and… well, you know that I was a human first, right?"

"Toby tried to tell us a very long story about it all, but I may have not listened very well," Aja admitted, jogging to keep up with Jim's quick pace. They came to a halt as they reached the river, and Jim fell into his natural crouch as he scanned the softened dirt for footsteps and scented the air again. "Ugh, c'mon! We have to keep going!"

"Wait!" Jim admonished, his ears twitching as he heard the rustling of leaves and breaking branches from somewhere further downstream. Aja rolled her eyes and made a scoffing sound in the back of her throat, darting forward and jumping across to the opposite bank. "Aja!"

"We will never catch up, if you do not— ow!"

" _Aja_!" Jim exclaimed again as he looked up at her shout. She was stumbling forward, one of her hands grasping at her neck where he could see a bright green dart sticking out. Aja's legs gave out and Jim launched himself forward to catch her before she could fall face first into the water. "Aj— ah!"

Jim gasped as he felt a sharp sting just behind his left ear. Almost immediately, his vision started swimming in front of him, and his limbs started losing their strength. Knowing that he was going to pass out, Jim used the last of his strength to drag himself and Aja out of the water and onto the muddy bank.

 _You must fight!_ Ywain shouted, and Jim could feel the magic pulse of the Amulet in his pocket trying to activate itself.

"No," Jim mumbled, his head falling back, too heavy to keep up. He could feel his longer horn digging into the soft dirt, the warmth of Aja's glowing body collapsed on top of his, the smell of ozone rising from her hair. The tree canopy above them was blurring and spinning sickeningly. "Stay… still. They can't… find… you…"

If Ywain responded, Jim didn't hear him, consciousness leaving him completely.

 _To be continued..._

✵✧ _**PLEASE** **LEAVE A REVIEW!**_ ✧✵


	29. Chapter Twenty-Nine

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

➳ _Obviously, there are some spoilers for 3Below in the following chapter; however, my interpretation of Akiridion physiology is just my own imagination. Enjoy, my loves!_

 **Chapter Twenty-Nine**

When Jim came to, he would have thought that he had indulged in too much Glug again, if not for the fact that he could remember everything that had happened. His mind seemed to be clear, but his body was heavy and sluggish, his head pounding and his mouth dry.

"Aj…a?" Jim tried to sound out, prying his eyes open only to cringe back as they were met with a harsh, florescent purple light. He could smell Aja's familiar ozone scent close by; he could also smell the scents of many other things, some unknown, but most were distinctly human. As the heaviness in his head began to lessen, he cautiously blinked his eyes open again, his vision clearing as they adjusted to his surroundings. Again, he was met with the purple light, and he realized that it was coming from a couple of surgical lights above him, but they were pointed away from him, their beams visible, but directed at the ceiling. Jim tried to lift his arm to shield his eyes, but was surprised to feel that both of his arms were strapped down by his sides. Testing his legs, he discovered with a growing sense of dread that they were strapped down as well.

A groaning sound to his right caught Jim's attention, and he jerked his head to the side quickly, cringing and hissing in pain as his horn clanged against the metal surface that he was strapped down on. When the echoing in his head and his spinning vision finally faded away, he was met with the sight of Aja lying right next to him in her alien form. Her expression was scrunched in pain, her head lolling to the side weakly, like she was just coming to as well and felt just as bad as he did. In fact, Jim noticed that her normal glow was extremely dull, barely giving off any light at all, and her complexion was dark and blotchy. He was surprised to see that the metallic black suit that she had been wearing was gone, and she was strapped down as well. Jim was even more shocked to see that her naked body was transparent, her bones and organs (or what approximated to organs, he guessed) clearly visible through the thin membrane of her blue flesh. He realized now that the thing in the center of her chest that he had assumed to be an emblem of some sort was actually within her body, pulsing with a brief light in a patterned time… like a heartbeat. The structure of her body was very doll-ish, in that she seemed to have the shape of a human woman (albeit, with extra arms), but none of the distinctive features, very much like a Barbie doll. He hadn't thought much about her suit when he had first seen it, only noting that it covered almost her entire body and even most of her head and neck, but as he looked her over in shock, he realized that it was meant to protect her vulnerable body — without it, she was completely exposed and easily injured or killed.

"Aja," Jim said again, his voice low and frantic. He was struggling against his bonds, but he couldn't even manage to loosen them. He didn't know what the heck they were made of, but he knew that he should have been able to rip through even steel chains with the strength that he was using. "Aja, wake up!"

"I am awake," Aja moaned, cringing at the sound of her own voice, and Jim knew that her head was likely pounding in the same manner as his. "But I do not think I want to be."

"Can you break your restraints?" Jim asked, attempting to reach out with his fingers to touch the straps holding her two left hands down next to his, but it was just out of his reach. "I don't know what they're made of, but mine are holding tight."

Aja's arms tightened at her side, and he watched in fascination as her muscles flexed and her bones shifted beneath her transparent skin. She struggled for almost a minute before groaning in agitation and wrenching her eyes open to glare down at her left wrists. "I cannot— oh!"

"What?" Jim asked, frowning in confusion as Aja twisted her head away from his direction, and her glow began to build back up quickly. He winced as he saw her brain and brain stem beneath her skin as she turned her head. "Aja? Are you feeling sick?"

"Uh, no," Aja said in a tense voice, what little he could see of her face becoming blotchy again, but with an extra bright glow instead of the dimness that it had been. "I… am not covered."

"Oh…" Jim almost laughed at the ridiculousness of her embarrassment, given the very grave situation. "I'm more worried about getting out of here than seeing you naked, Aja."

"N-no, I…" Aja twisted her head back toward him, her wide black and blue eyes glaring back into his fixedly, her cheeks glowing brightly. "You… are not covered either."

"What?" Jim gasped, jerking his head up to glare down the length of his body, and then groaned in embarrassment as he saw his own nakedness. "Great."

"Oh, no…" Aja groaned, and Jim looked back toward her to see her looking around the room with a growing look of horror. "I am thinking that we are in a lot of trouble."

Looking around for himself, Jim saw that they were in some kind of large room, white and sterile looking. A faint purple glow from the fluorescent lamps above reflected off of the white tiled floor and walls; combined with the blue glow coming from Aja, the sight was almost too harsh on his eyes, only worsening his headache. There was a single, steel door on the wall to their left, a hefty metal beam bolted across it, though Jim suspected that it was meant for show. The sounds of electronic beeps, whirs, and buzzing coming from the door signaled that the real security wasn't something that they would get through easily. Along the right wall ran a long counter, various tools laid out neatly on top. Jim felt sick to his stomach as he noticed surgical tools, syringes, vials of unknown liquids, and even a bone saw amongst the collection.

"Deya, this is bad," Jim breathed in a low voice. He tried to rip free of his restraints again, but the more strength that he used, the tighter the bonds seemed to hold. "Damn it!"

"I cannot break mine, either!" Aja growled, her fists clenching and twisting as she tried to break free. "I do not understand! I can lift one of your automobiles without much effort — this should not be this difficult!"

Before Jim could reply, a sound of static burst through the room, and then a booming female voice started to echo around them, causing both Jim and Aja to cringe. Jim's ears fell back, trying to lessen the headache inducing sound, but all it did was make it louder.

"You'll find that your restraints won't be easily broken by either of you," the voice rang out, and Jim recognized the arrogant tone as belonging to Darci's aunt. "They were designed with extraterrestrial strength in mind, combining alien tech and substances to create the strongest material on Earth. In your case, James, you'll notice that we've had our magic expert inscribe your bonds with a restraint spell, as an extra precaution."

"Wha…?" Jim frowned, lifting his head again to look down at the seemingly normal looking white cloth holding his arms down by the wrists. Now that he really looked at them, he noticed that it seemed someone had taken a Sharpie to them, writing arcane symbols on the cloth. Jim almost laughed, but managed to bite back the action. Whoever her "magic expert" was, he or she had absolutely no idea what they were doing, nor did they actually have any power. The symbols on his restraints were merely a more arcane form of Trollish, and while it _was_ a spell, it was a fertility spell (which only made him want to laugh all the more), and it had absolutely no power behind it. Still, the bonds were strong enough on their own that he could not break them.

"I think you'll find that struggling is pointless," the woman's voice went on menacingly, and Jim remained quiet, looking around the room for the source of the voice.

"What are you going to do with us?!" Aja exclaimed, beginning to struggle again despite the woman's assurance that the bonds wouldn't break. "You cannot just take whatever you want!"

"I think you'll find that the military has every right that we need to act in the face of a threat."

"We haven't threatened anyone!" Jim shouted, his eyes finally landing on a speaker in one of the far corners of the room. From the way the sound was coming from all directions, Jim was sure that this was not the only speaker, but it was the only one that he could see from his current angle. Next to the speaker was a camera, and it was directed right at them, their reflections visible in the lens.

"No? Then you are not to blame for the so-called _fire tornado_ that ripped through Arcadia last year?"

Jim cringed in guilt, but refused to allow the reminder to weaken his resolve. "Yes, I was involved in that, but if I fought to _protect_ Arcadia — to protect _everyone_."

"And a few days before that, someone was able to hack into the Arcadia power grid and manipulate the mainframe to cause a city-wide power outage. The source was tracked to the Nuñez residence, but I suspect someone else as the culprit. Any takers?"

"Ah," Aja gasped, her expression twisting with guilt.

"That was me too," Jim interjected quickly, his fists clenching in agitation and a low growl building in his throat. "No one else had anything to do with it."

The female voice chuckled darkly. "Oh, don't be chivalrous, James. We know it was one of the Tarron siblings; no _Earthly_ being could have been able to hack the system with enough ease and finesse as what was executed that night."

"Well, if you know so much, what the hell do you need us for?" Jim shouted, jerking angrily at the bonds. The metal table that he was strapped down to started rattle and rock with the strength that he was exerting, and yet the bonds still would not break. "Let us go!"

"And give up the chance to study such a fine pair of specimens? Oh, no. No, that won't do at all."

As if on cue, there was hissing sound to Jim's left, and he and Aja turned to see the door's bolt sliding to the side, and then it swung open with another hiss. Several people filed in, all wearing scrubs, lab coats, and germ masks, save for the one woman leading the pack. Darci's aunt had the most arrogant and self-satisfied look on her face that Jim had ever seen someone wear before, and he wanted to punch her for it. How in the world could someone as kind and compassionate as _Darci Scott_ be related to this deplorable woman?!

"Let us go," Jim repeated in a firm and dangerous voice as the woman walked up to them, her figure towering over their prone forms intimidatingly.

"You're in no position to bargain, James," the woman said, tsk-ing under her tongue mockingly. With a smirk, she reached up for one of the surgical lights above them and twisted it down and around so that the strange, purple light shone down on him.

"JIM! STOP IT! STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HIM?!"

Jim heard Aja's screams, but they were drowned out amidst his own as the light bore down on him, and he could literally feel his flesh burning and beginning to be eaten away. In all the times that he had gotten a brief 'sunburn,' none had ever felt as agonizing as this. He was completely exposed to the UV lights and could not move away from them, even though he struggled harder than he ever had. Everything felt like it was on fire, and the heat from the lights only grew more intense with each layer of his flesh that was eaten away. Jim didn't know how long the woman kept the light on him, but it felt like hours had passed by the time she decided that she'd tortured him enough and finally — _finally_ — turned the light away again.

"Interesting," she hummed thoughtfully as Jim's body went limp, trembling with aftershocks of horrible pain. His head lolled to the side weakly, and he coughed, gasping for breath, and was surprised to taste blood on the back of his tongue. "Make a note about the speed of the healing factor — his wounds began to heal as soon as the exposure was gone."

"You do not have to _torture_ us," Aja exclaimed, and Jim could hear the catch in her throat, and cracked his eyes open to see her face turned in his direction, her eyes wide, afraid, and spilling tears.

"I'm… okay," Jim whispered back to her weakly, but it wasn't true. He was terrified for both of them, and he was trying desperately to not concentrate on his soul bond with his mate. Distance made no difference, and he could feel her presence within himself as if she were right next to him. He had been aware of it since the moment he'd woken up, and she was in full panic mode. The more fear and panic she felt from him only made hers heighten, which made his worse too.

"This is not torture," the woman said in a smooth voice. Jim could hear the clang of instruments being moved around, the echoing footsteps from the people moving around the room, the sound of someone writing notes down, but he kept his gaze locked with Aja's, too afraid to look elsewhere. "If it were mere torture, we wouldn't be able to gather important, scientific data, like we are now. Now, tell me, Aja: your unique physiology lets me see your body structure without need for X-rays or dissection — which is good for you — but I've noticed that you're very similar to a human. How far does that go?"

"I do not know what you mean," Aja said in an angry voice, trying to twist her body to hide herself, though it was moot point with her completely transparent flesh.

"Well, for example," the woman replied, walking around from Jim's side of the table to Aja's. She reached up and plucked a pen that had been tucked behind her ear and used the tip to poke the smooth curve of Aja's chest. "You are female, correct?"

"What else would I be?!" Aja yelled back, her glow brightening in anger and embarrassment. Jim's protective instincts were going into overdrive, but he was too weak to do more than growl threateningly.

"Seeing as you lack any recognizable distinctive features of a human woman, I have to admit, we weren't sure," the woman shrugged, taking her pen and moving it down to poke at the flat and smooth area between Aja's legs.

"Do not touch me!" the alien girl screamed, twisting her body away from the woman's probing pen. "Do you not have any decency?!"

"I would doubt it," Jim grunted, coughing up a small amount of blood, but managing to lift his head with enough strength to show that he wasn't so weak that he wouldn't continue to fight. "How can you possibly be related to Darci?"

"Her father is my brother, simple as that," she replied, shrugging nonchalantly. "Granted, if I had known the connections that my niece had, I would have acted much sooner. She's always held loyalty to her friends above loyalty to her family, however, so it doesn't surprise me that she's kept her connections secret. Gregory," the woman turned to a young, red-haired man who was scribbling notes down on a clipboard. "Make a note that prolonged exposure to the UVs caused minor internal damage."

"Yes, Colonel Kubritz," Gregory nodded, jotting down the information obediently. "Should I have aid administered, or observe his own healing abilities?"

"Observe," Kubritz replied, nodding thoughtfully. She used her pen to continue poking Aja in various areas.

" _Stop with your incessant poking_ , _you soolian_!" Aja shouted, and she lifted her head to snap her teeth. Kubritz jerked her hand back at the last second, laughing.

"My, you're feisty!" she chuckled, but continued her poking, this time keeping her hand out of reach of Aja's mouth. "Interesting. You have what approximates to a human digestive system, but I see here," she poked Aja's lower stomach, using the tip of her pen to draw circles and lines on Aja's skin. "…that you lack what would approximate to any type of reproductive organs. What is this, then? A bladder?"

"How dare you?!" Aja ground out through gritted teeth, defiantly continuing to twist her body back and forth in an attempt to escape. Jim noticed the scent of ozone becoming stronger and looked down to see a glowing, blue liquid seeping from Aja's restrained wrists and staining the cloth. His heart jolted in his chest with fear as he realized that Aja was rubbing her wrists into a raw and bleeding state with the strength she was using. "I would not poke and prod at you, and ask you embarrassing questions, so why do you do this to us?"

"For research purposes, of course," Kubritz explained in a voice that suggested that the answer was obvious. "To protect the human race against dangerous invaders, such as yourselves."

Jim barked a low laugh. " _Invaders_? So far, you're the only one _invading_ anything! You know… _like our personal space_."

"Hmm," Kubritz hummed to herself again, and then walked back over to his side of the table. Taking her pen, she proceeded to poke his chest, the pen tip digging into the deep scar over his heart. "What is this from?"

"You humans have a phrase that I have learned to like," Aja interjected angrily as Jim cringed back in pain. The injury healed ages ago, but still caused him pain if it was agitated… like sticking a pointy object into it. " _Fuck you_!"

"Gregory, make a note of these scarring patterns," the woman went on, ignoring Aja and poking at another of Jim's deep scars lower on his side. "Now, Mr. Lake — if you don't mind, please change into your human form, so that we can see the differences."

Jim rolled his eyes, scoffing under his breath. "I don't _have_ a human form anymore!"

"Nonsense," Kubritz waved off his argument with a dismissive gesture. "I saw you in your human form just two days ag—"

" _Two days_?!" Jim and Aja exclaimed in shock at the same time. Jim's panic renewed and Claire responded immediately, and he could almost taste her fear along their bond.

"Almost three, to be exact," Kubritz clarified in a calm voice. "So, there's no need to be shy. Change, please."

"I _can't_ ," Jim growled, baring his teeth in annoyance. "I told you — I don't have a human form. What you saw was an illusion."

"Oh? Some kind of cloaking technology or a spell?" she asked, tapping her pen thoughtfully against her lips.

"Like I'd tell you," Jim replied, but then he gasped and cringed back as she reached up to grasp the handle of the surgical light again.

"I said that this wasn't torture, but it can easily become so," Kubritz threatened mildly, her hand gripping the handle of the surgical light. She tilted the light slightly, and Jim couldn't help but to flinch in fright.

"Look, I can't _do_ what you're asking," he said, his heart pounding erratically in his chest.

"Very well, then," Kubritz said, nodding and releasing her hold on the lamp. Turning around briefly, she snatched a small remote-looking object up from a metal tray that had been set up by one of the people in the room. The woman turned back calmly and pressed a button on the object, and a whirring sound started to echo through the room. Jim and Aja both lifted their heads to look toward where a wide canvas screen was being lowered from the ceiling in front of their feet. "Nancy, the electrodes, please. Adam, if you'd turn the projector on?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Right away!"

"What are you doing?!" Jim demanded, twisting his head away as a middle-aged blonde woman in a white lab coat came up to him and proceeded to attach several electrodes to certain places on his scalp. Her hands shifted seamlessly with his movements, as if she were used to having to handle squirming specimens, and the thought made him sick to his stomach.

"Projector ready, ma'am," a male voice said from somewhere behind Jim and Aja, and a white light flickered to life against the screen in front of them.

"Good," Kubritz praised, and then turned to the blonde woman and gave her a sharp nod. The woman nodded back and then stepped out of Jim's line of sight, and he heard various clicks and beeps coming from some machine that she must have been operating. Kubritz turned back to Jim with a smirk. "This might feel a bit strange, James, but bear with us, all right?"

"Like hell — ah!" Jim started to curse the woman, but then the strangest sensation started rattling through his head, like his skull was filled with a beehive and was vibrating with activity. It didn't hurt, but it was one of the weirdest sensations that he had ever experienced and was far from pleasant. "What _is_ thi—?"

Jim broke off with a gasp as familiar images began to flash across the screen in front of them: Barbara in her graduation cap and gown, smiling down at the camera; a younger James Lake Senior, covered in grease, but smiling as he handed a screwdriver to an outstretched toddler's hand; a little Toby, sitting on the sidewalk next to his fallen bike, crying as he clutched his bloody mouth, a couple of teeth in his opposite palm; a thin, human hand clutching his glowing amulet above a pile of rubble; Claire, seated at her school desk and typing on her laptop; Blinky and AAARRRGGHH! looking down at the camera, the ceiling of Jim's basement above them, and excited smiles on their faces; his own human arm, encased in armor and hefting Daylight to point toward the evening twilight sky; Draal, mid-roll as he barreled down in the direction of the camera; Claire again, barely an inch from the camera and looking up with a loving expression, the soft lights of the city spread out behind her.

"STOP!" Jim shouted, wrenching his head left and right in an attempt to dislodge the electrodes from his scalp. He'd realized what this was and what was happening. These were not photos that had been taken, but his own memories — images from his perspective, things that he had seen with his own eyes. " _GET OUT OF MY HEAD_!"

No one responded, and the images continued to play out in front of them, some of them lingering longer than others. Vivid memories — those that were important to him — played like video snippets. Fighting Angor Rot with Strickler; facing off and killing Bular; calm moments with his friends; being tortured in the Darklands; watching Draal sacrifice his life for Jim's; Morgana readying to cast her death magic at his friends; his four fingered troll hand grasping his mate's bare thigh…

"Stop," Jim begged weakly, his head buzzing incessantly. Grinding his teeth together and squeezing his eyes shut, Jim concentrated hard on his own power. He didn't like using magic outside of what he would use by harnessing the Amulet, but that didn't mean that he was unable to. " _Bränna_!"

Several shouts rang up as the screen burst into flames, and even Kubritz jumped back in shock before rushing forward to help put the fire out. The flames were white hot and only grew larger with each passing second.

"What have you done?!" Kubritz shouted back at Jim, and then started barking orders out to the other people rushing around the room. Someone ran out of the room to retrieve a fire extinguisher, leaving the door wide open behind them.

"Ha sönder!" Jim commanded under his breath, taking advantage of the distraction in the room. The bonds around his wrists and ankles rattled, but remained intact. Growling, Jim poured more power into the command. " _Ha sönder_! _HA SÖNDER!_ "

Aja let out a surprised shout as their bonds shattered into pieces, and Jim gasped for breath, dizzy from the outpouring of power. Aja grabbed his hand in two of hers and yanked him to his feet as she vaulted herself off of the table, and he stumbled after her as she dragged him toward the door. Distracted by the fire, no one noticed their escape right away.

"This way!" Aja said in a low and sure voice as she turned down a hall to the left, and then made two rights.

"How do you know your way around?" Jim gasped, still short of breath as he recovered some of his magic.

"I… I have been here before," Aja admitted. She turned a corner, and then jerked back with a gasp, pushing him back against the wall as a door opened further down the hall and two people dressed in orange hazmat suits strolled out casually. "Stay qui—"

"ALERT! ALERT!" The hallway was plunged into darkness, the red emergency strobes flaring to life as a robotic female voice rang out through the building. "ALERT! CODE THREE NINETY-FOUR IN PROGRESS. REPEAT: CODE THREE NINETY-FOUR IN PROGRESS. ALERT!"

"Code three ninety-four?" one of the orange guys said to his friend. "Ah, geez! Which one was that again?"

"Specimen escape!" his friend responded with a gasp. "Quick! Let's get our neutralizers! Think of the raise we'll get, if we manage to catch it!"

"We don't even know what we're looking for!" the first guy said in a nervous tone.

"Dude, if it's not human, and it's running for the exit, chances are that _that's_ what we're looking for!"

"Good point!"

"I have to find my Amulet," Jim whispered to Aja as they watched the two people in suits disappear around another corner. "And, preferably, some pants."

"Now is not the time for omelets, Jim!" Aja whispered back angrily, her two left hands grabbing his right arm and shaking him roughly. "Is that a male thing across all planets? That you always think with your stomach?!"

"My _Amulet_ , Aja," Jim said, allowing himself to laugh a little. "My magic gem."

"Oh," Aja replied, lifting one of her hands to rub thoughtfully at her chin. "There is a place where they hold objects for study, but I was not in that building before. I am unsure of how to get there from here."

"I can summon it, but I've expended too much power to call it from this distance," Jim said, leaning heavily against the wall and glancing nervously in either direction. "If we can evade capture long enough to get close to the building, I can try to summon it from there."

"Then let us go!" Aja exclaimed, grabbing his hand with two of hers and starting to pull him along behind her.

"Aja, _wait_ ," Jim demanded, digging his heels in, though her strength was surprisingly hefty. Granted, she hadn't been tortured or expended massive amounts of magical power. "You can't just rush off into battle without looking where you're going!"

"And we cannot just stand here and wait for them to find us!" the alien girl argued, gesturing between their bodies pointedly. "We are both too vulnerable and exposed right now."

"Don't remind me," Jim groaned, rolling his eyes. His breath was catching, his chest aching, and his emotions were going haywire.

"What is wrong with you?" Aja demanded, shaking his arm again. "That woman said that you heal fast, and I see no more injuries on you. What is wrong?"

"It's not me," Jim shook his head, lifting one of his hands to press against his chest, over his heart. "Something's not right."

"Yes, we are trapped in a secret military base, and if we are captured again, they will not give us the chance to make another escape!" Aja exclaimed in a panicked whisper, tugging on him again and, this time, getting him to fall into step behind her.

Jim allowed Aja to pull him along the various hallways, only half paying attention to his surroundings. Claire's emotions were all over the place and only worsening as time progressed, even as he tried to send her a feeling of calm and reassurance. She was panicking and scared, which he expected, but overpowering that was a drowning sense of grief, combined with guilt, which he didn't understand. Jim knew that his mate could feel him because she would respond to his emotions as he responded to hers, but nothing he did seemed to reassure her. It was at times like this where he wished that their bond really did allow them to read each other's minds.

"There! Down Wing F-23!"

"Kleb!" Aja cursed, screeching to a halt as she made a turn without looking, and they came face to face with a handful of weapon wielding hazmat suits. Jim jerked Aja back by the grip she had on his arm and attempted to backtrack, but doors began to fly open on either side of the hall, dozens of people toting various weapons and neutralizers filing into the hall. They were trapped.

"Arms up!" one of the suits in front shouted. Several guns cocked, ready to fire, if they failed to comply. Having no other choice, Jim and Aja did as they were told, raising their hands into the air.

"Now would be a good time for one of your spells," Aja muttered nervously out of the corner of her mouth, and Jim swallowed hard, pulling on his reserve of power again.

"This is going to wipe me out," Jim warned, and Aja gave a sharp nod of understanding, her body shifting slightly to brace for whatever he had planned. He closed his eyes and concentrated hard again, even as another of the suits demanded that they keep still. " _Brän_ — Ah!"

"Jim!"

Jim barely heard Aja's exclamation as he fell to his knees, both of his hands grasping desperately at his chest. He was unable to suck in even the smallest of breaths as Claire's presence completely muted along their bond, all of her emotions dying down into non-existence in an instance. He could still feel her life force, but it was like her soul had been put into a deep sleep. Desperately probing deeper, Jim was relieved to note that he could at least feel his daughter's presence, strong and healthy.

"Claire," Jim mumbled to himself, his chest aching and his head spinning. "What…?"

"Jim, _move_!"

Aja dragged Jim back to his feet, but he could barely keep his own weight up, let alone muster enough energy to cast a spell. Someone must have decided that they'd had enough of the standoff, and then Jim and Aja were falling again, a familiar sting piercing Jim's left hip. From the dazed look on Aja's face, she had been struck with a tranquilizer too.

As he continued to search frantically for his mate's presence along their bond, Jim's world fell into darkness once again.

. . .

The next time Jim woke up, he was alone in a cell of some sort, the walls made of thick cement, and no doubt reinforced with titanium girders and — from the distinctive smell of gun powder — explosives. Even if he were to brave a spell that would break down the wall or set something on fire, he would blow himself up in the process. Aside from that, he was so tired that he couldn't even push himself up on the hospital bed that he was lying in, let alone get up and stroll around. The fogginess in his head suggested that he was being kept under just enough anesthesia to keep him from being able to call on any of his energy, physical _or_ magical. Searching along his bond with Claire, he was beyond relieved to find her again, though there was still an overwhelming sense of grief coming from her.

 _I'm okay_ , Jim thought, concentrating on sending her a feeling of reassurance and wishing that he could hear his mate's voice respond. He did relax when she sent back a feeling of relief and love.

"Feeling better, Mr. Lake?"

Jim blinked his eyes open tiredly, his head lolling to the side to see the red headed man that had been taking notes in the room that he had first woken up in. He was standing on the left side of Jim's bed, making adjustments on a machine that had wire flowing from it and under Jim's hospital gown.

"I… get clothes… this time?" Jim asked, mentally cursing at the weakness of his tone. His voice was so cracked and heavy that he was surprised that he hadn't slurred any of his words.

"Your external examination was completed three days ago," the man nodded, and Jim remembered that Kubritz had called him 'Gregory.' "We've been monitoring your vitals as you've slept."

"Find any…thing… interesting?" Jim attempted to joke, but it fell flat with the struggle it took for him to get the words out.

"There were some interesting brain wave patterns that we've been studying more closely," Gregory admitted, turning another dial on the machine. "The patterns are identical to those that a human brain would exhibit when holding a live conversation."

"Dreaming," Jim shrugged, swallowing thickly, his mouth dry.

"No," the man shook his head, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Dreams create distinctly different types of patterns and are created in a separate space of the brain. You were also under too much anesthetic to induce dream sleep."

"Aja?"

"The alien female is being held in a separate cell, in a different building."

"She prefers… to be called… Aki…ridion," Jim said, trying to sound harsh, but only managing to raise his voice enough to speak at just above a hoarse whisper.

"So she's told us," Gregory chuckled. "Repeatedly."

"How long…?" Jim tried to ask, but his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, too dry to finish the sentence.

"You'll have been in containment for a week and a half tomorrow," Gregory replied, successfully guessing Jim's question.

Alarmed, Jim began to struggle, but he could barely lift his eyelids, let alone his arms. "What? I can't… you have to… you have to let us… go."

"We can't do that," Gregory said, and his voice was slightly guilty, as if he wished that he could give in to Jim's demand. "I'm sorry."

"We aren't… invaders," Jim tried again, but the man didn't respond, staring fixedly at the machine in front of him. "I… have to… get home."

"I'm sorry," the man repeated, frowning deeply as he avoided looking at Jim. Reaching down to his waist, Gregory unclipped a walkie talkie from his belt and brought it up to his mouth. "He's come to, ma'am."

There was a pause, and then Kubritz's voice crackled through in response. "Good. Keep him under just enough to prevent him from gaining any energy."

"Yes, ma'am," Gregory replied, nodding as he pressed a button on the machine in front of him. A second later, a wave of heaviness fell over Jim, causing his head to fall back and loll lazily to the side. His chest felt heavy, and his breathing became deep as he hovered on the verge of artificial sleep.

"Keep monitoring him. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Claire…" Jim mumbled to himself, trying to sift through the fog weighing down on him to feel for his mate. He was scared, both for himself and for her, and she was the only thing familiar that he had any connection to in that moment.

"Is she a friend of yours?" Jim heard Gregory ask in a soft and friendly voice. He blinked his heavy eyelids open to see the man still staring at the machine, biting his lip nervously. "You said her name a lot when you were in between anesthetic doses."

Jim swallowed thickly, but didn't answer the question directly. "Thought… you guys… could… read my… mind."

"Not when your brain isn't in an active state," Gregory chuckled darkly, and Jim was surprised at the slight tone of anger in the man's voice. "You were under too much anesthetic."

"Sorry… to dis…appoint," Jim mumbled with a weak laugh, his eyes drifting closed again.

"I think it's kind of an underhanded tactic, anyway."

Jim struggled to open his eyes again, but when he did, he glared harshly at the red-haired man. "Prefer tor…ture?"

"No," Gregory sighed, finally looking away from the machine to face Jim, his brown eyes downcast. "I… not all of us approve of how live specimens are treated."

"Then… do something… about… it," Jim replied, a slight growl building in his chest. Gregory looked up, startled by the sound, and shook his head.

"I can't," he said in a broken whisper. "I'm so sorry, but we can't."

"Why?" Jim demanded.

Gregory glanced away and then back again, a spark of anger in his expression. "The fire tornado… it was caused by a war between _your_ kind. The rest of us just got dragged into it."

"I'm sorry," Jim said, his heart twisting in guilt. "It's not… what you… think. Those we fought… wanted… to sub…jugate… the humans. We fought to… prevent that."

"My little sister was on the bridge," Gregory said, turning back to the machine, his eyes becoming red-rimmed. "Her back was broken in five places when another car slammed into hers. Now, she's paralyzed from the neck down. Who do I blame for that?"

Jim cringed, shaking his head weakly. "I'm… so sorry."

"We have to know how to protect ourselves from any danger," Gregory said, his voice firm. "Otherwise, innocent people get caught in the crosshairs."

Before Jim could respond, the sound of electronic beeps and whirs sounded from the far wall, and then the door sung open. Kubritz strolled into the room casually, making a smooth beeline to the side of Jim's bed. When she stopped at his side, she turned slightly to address Gregory. "Thank you. I can handle things from here, Gregory. I will call you when I am through with him."

"Yes, ma'am," Gregory nodded obediently, and then turned to leave, closing the door behind him and engaging the lock.

"Now, then," Kubritz said in a soft, controlled voice as she turned back to smirk down at Jim. "I apologize for the heavy sedation, James, but we underestimated your abilities before. You'll be proud to know that your little fireworks show burnt down all of Wing M-12. It took two days to control. That's quite the party trick." Jim didn't reply, merely glaring back at the woman. She seemed to have expected his reaction, however, and her smirk widened as she continued speaking to him. "We managed to get some interesting vitals off of you while you were sleeping, though — who were you speaking to?"

"I don't… know… what you're… talking about," Jim growled, huffing a heavy breath through his nose in agitation.

"Now, James," Kubritz tsk-ed mockingly, shaking her head in a gesture of disapproval. "We were monitoring your brain wave patterns, and we know that you were holding a conversation with _someone_ , so tell me who it was."

"I was… un…concious," Jim growled, baring his teeth weakly at the wretched woman. "How… could I have… talked… with any…one?"

" _Tell me who it was_!" Kubritz shouted, her calm demeanor breaking as she slammed her hands down on the bedrail and shook it angrily.

Jim huffed a laugh, rolling his heavy eyes. "You're… crazy."

Kubritz looked like she desperately wanted to punch him, but she reined herself in and straightened her stance, her hands still gripping the bedrail. "Well… maybe you _don't_ know what I'm referring to. Maybe you don't remember. That's conceivable, I suppose, given how heavily you were anesthetized; however, that being said, even dreaming is impossible with how deeply you were under… so I'm sure you can understand why we're so very interested in how your brain could have been showing evidence of holding a live and active conversation during that time."

Jim could only guess that whatever Kubritz's readings had shown her, she was seeing his interaction with Claire through their Soul Bond. Though he had no recollection of anything while he had been under, the truth was that he and Claire were always connected, no matter the distance, nor the physical state of the other. The readings could have even shown his bond with his daughter, though his connection to her was not as intimate as with Claire. The idea that there was scientific evidence to prove the existence of something that had previously been pure magic was both intriguing and terrifying to Jim. If they could _see_ how he reacted or responded to someone seemingly outside of the base — and, thus, their control — what would stop them from finding and imprisoning everyone he knew and loved for scientific study? What if they found Claire? Worse, what if they found Ellie? His baby was unique amongst both troll and human kind, and Kubritz already knew this. The woman may not have seen the babe while she had been hidden away in her sling, but Jim knew that the woman's glasses had somehow read the baby's DNA. Kubritz knew what Ellie was, and Jim would be damned if he would let this bitch find his child.

"Maybe… I can… read your… mind," Jim said, smirking slightly.

Kubritz chuckled, shaking her head. "Then you never would have been caught off guard."

"Damn," Jim sighed dramatically, his eyes drifting closed lazily. "Guess you'll… just… have to… keep looking."

"James, I really don't want to torture you," Kubritz said in an exasperated voice. "Specimens tend to not survive for very long once torture is introduced, and you're too valuable to lose. Do us both a favor, and tell me what I want to know."

"Can't," Jim replied, shrugging as best as he could, given that he could barely move. "Too bad… you never… met… Gunmar. He… was a fan of… torture… too. Never… worked."

"All right, then," Kubritz said in a calm tone, and Jim opened his eyes again to look at her. Her expression was thoughtful as she considered her options. Finally, she locked her gaze with his and said, "Maybe I should rephrase my question: who do you _think_ you would have been most likely interacting with? I have my suspicions, of course."

"Tell me," Jim demanded in a low voice, breathing deeply to keep himself from showing any emotion. As he tasted the air around them, he noted the faint scent of magic in the room, but it wasn't his own.

"You kept saying the name 'Claire' in the spaces of time when your anesthesia doses wore down," Kubritz explained, nodding thoughtfully to herself. "I assume that this 'Claire' is Councilwoman Nuñez's daughter?" Jim remained silent, his chest vibrating with a low growl that the Colonel was ignoring. She smirked again at his refusal to answer the question, no doubt finding her answer in that. "And I assume, then, that this same 'Claire' just so happens to be the mother of that very _interesting_ baby your were cradling when we first met?"

"You leave… them… _alone_!" Jim growled, agitated as the magic in the air quickly built up in the room. Kubritz seemed completely unresponsive to it, and Jim wondered if maybe she had managed to find herself a _real_ 'magic expert' this time, and was not reacting to the power around them because she had expected it, or if she just couldn't sense it at all.

"Really, James?" Kubritz laughed, rolling her eyes. "Look at you! We have you so incapacitated that you can barely string a sentence together! What could you possibly do to—"

The room ignited with a blinding blue light as the building magic surged and burst. Jim cringed back against the light, squeezing his eyes shut instinctively. He heard Kubritz let out a surprised shout, which was abruptly cut off with a long gurgling sound. Jim gasped when he heard the woman cough, and then his face was spattered with warm, sticky liquid. Wrenching his eyes open, he watched in dazed horror as the woman looked down at him in shock, her lips and teeth stained with dark, red blood, and her hands clutching at her mid-section… where a glowing arrow tip was protruding through her stomach and between her clutching fingers.

"What…?" Kubritz breathed, blood and spit trailing down her chin. A dull _thud!_ echoed through the room and she lurched forward, coughing up more blood as another arrow struck her from behind.

" _Get. Away. From. My. Mate_!"

Kubritz turned and stumbled back, tripping over her own feet and falling back across Jim's restrained legs. As she moved, she revealed another figure, a familiar glowing bow in her arms, nocked and drawn taught, ready to fire again.

"Claire…" Jim breathed, relieved, but also terrified. His wife looked awful, like she was barely keeping herself standing. Her limp hair was held up in a loose bun, half of it having escaped the tie, and her face was paler than normal, her eyes red-rimmed. She was wearing loose lounging pants and one of Jim's t-shirts, which hung around her smaller frame, one shoulder exposed by the neckline. The shadows cast by the Moonlight Bow made her face look almost skeletal. Claire's hands trembled, like she was struggling to maintain her grip on the bow, but she continued her advance on Kubritz, and the pure fury his mate was exuding was enough to keep Jim from giving into the doping meds entirely.

"You bitch," Kubritz ground out, coughing up another glob of blood. "You'd kill your best friend's aunt?"

"No," Claire replied in a flat tone, glaring down the woman as she took another menacing step forward. "If I wanted you dead, you would have gotten an arrow between the eyes. _This_ is a warning."

An alarm started blaring through the building, red emergency strobes flashing on and illuminating the room in eerie shades of red and black. Kubritz took advantage of the distraction and made a lunge for Claire, but the girl seemed to have expected this and let her arrow fly. The momentum of the impact to her abdomen threw Kubritz back again, and the woman gasped for breath as blood spilled from her mouth and her wounds. Claire seamlessly nocked another arrow and aimed again.

"Don't make me kill you," Claire threatened in a low, promising voice. "For Darci's sake, I'll hold if you surrender."

"And if I don't?" Kubritz spit out, her voice rattling wetly with the blood in her mouth.

Claire raised her bow, the arrow now aimed directly between the Colonel's eyes. "Then Moonlight here will be the last thing you ever see."

Kubritz's eyes crossed as she eyed the weapon directly in front of her face, as if she were weighing her options. "Even if I surrender, you can only save James. What about your alien friend? You would sacrifice her life?"

"What makes you think we came here without a plan?" Claire asked, smirking slightly. The air around her began to whip and crackle with magic, her eyes becoming pure black with her power, and Kubritz scrambled back, her eyes wide with fright.

"What are you?!" Kubritz demanded, coughing and gasping. Her wide eyes darted almost frantically to Jim, as if begging him to intervene, but he shook his head.

"She's the… sorceress who defeated… Morgana," Jim said in a weak, but proud voice. "I wouldn't mess… with her, if I were… you."

There was a beat of tense silence, and then Kubritz's eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she went limp, sliding to the floor in a bloody heap. Claire immediately went limp herself, her magic dissipating entirely, and her eyes becoming their normal brown once again. Pulling the bow over her head and across her chest, she rushed forward to Jim's side, tears beginning to spill down her cheeks.

"Jim! Oh, God, honey…" Claire pressed her mouth to Jim's, and he kissed her back with as much strength as he could muster, which wasn't a lot. Breaking away, a sob caught in her throat as she looked him over, a terrible feeling of grief, guilt, and relief flowing through her that he didn't quite understand.

"I'm… okay," Jim mumbled, trying to lift a hand to reach for his mate, but finding that he didn't have the strength for it. "Damn it…"

"They've got you pretty doped up, huh?"

"Ellie…?" Jim tried to ask, glancing behind Claire as if the baby would be sitting on the floor, waiting patiently.

"She's with Toby and Darci," Claire said, moving her hands over his arms and legs, and using her magic to break the restraints in the same way he had the first time.

"Not… safe," Jim protested weakly, grunting as he tried to help Claire maneuver his body to sit up. It took far too much effort for both of them, and a new wave of uncertain concern washed through him. Something was not right with his mate, but now was not the time to find answers. "They know where—"

"No," Claire said, shaking her head as she helped him slide off of the bed and to his feet. He wobbled briefly, but braced himself against the edge of the bed as Claire moved to rip the IV and electrodes from his skin. "They're not in Arcadia — none of the others are. They're safe."

Jim relaxed slightly at the reassurance, and Claire came back to his side and pulled his arm over her shoulder, bracing his body with hers as she walked them forward a few steps. "Aja…?"

"It's all right," Claire assured him in a loving voice, turning her head to press a kiss to his cloth covered chest. "She's safe too. Ready?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's get out of this hell hole," Claire said, and she reached up to grasp the charm strung around her neck. A second later, they were engulfed in blinding, blue light.

 _To be continued..._

✩ ✧ _**PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!**_ ✧ ✩


	30. Chapter Thirty

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

➳ _Hello, my loves! The wait for this chapter was somewhat intentional. It was either 'get this out before January 29th, or wait until mid-February!' The reasoning? Well, I am a HUGE Kingdom Hearts fan, and the latest game came out on the 29th, so OF COURSE I had to play it immediately! I took my time, and I finished it a couple of days ago. If you've also played, or you know how the game ended, then you can understand why I would need some time to decompress after that (my heart!). Anywho, the long awaited next chapter has arrived! Thank you all for being so patient with me! Enjoy, my loves!_

 **Chapter Thirty**

Jim was almost afraid to open his eyes the next time he woke up, but then he recognized the familiar scent of his own cave, the warmth of his own bed, and the soft, healing magic of the Heartstone pulsing through him. He could also scent his mate right next to him and his daughter close by. Beyond that, however, other familiar scents were present: his mother, Strickler, Toby, Darci, Steve, Eli, Mary, Toby's grandmother, NotEnrique, AAARRRGGHH!, Blinky, and even Ophelia and Javier Nuñez and baby Enrique. There was also the strong scent of ozone that could only belong to the Akiridions.

"Jim?"

Jim felt a soft hand brush through his hair, gently rubbing the base of one of his horns, and he sighed at the familiar action, blinking open his eyes tiredly. Claire's face was an inch from his, so close that he could feel the soft heat of her breath brush against his lips when she exhaled, and he smiled, relief flooding through him at the sight of her, even if…

"You look terrible," Jim croaked out in a light, teasing voice, lifting his hand to caress his wife's gaunt cheek.

Claire laughed weakly and leant forward to press her lips to his. "You don't look so good either, Mr. Trollhunter."

Jim smiled into the kiss, but was surprised when Claire jerked back from him when he tried to deepen it, her expression nervous. That odd combination of grief and guilt flooded through her again, and he frowned in confusion. "Claire, what—"

"We've got a lot of house guests, at the moment," she replied quickly, her eyes downcast as she tried to disentangle herself from him and roll out of their bed.

"Wait," Jim said, wrapping his arms around his mate's waist and pulling her back. Claire let out a pained gasp at the movement, and Jim released her, surprised as her hand went to press against the lower left side of her abdomen. "Claire…?"

"I'm sorry," Claire whispered back, squeezing her eyes shut as she began to silently cry. "I'm so sorry."

"For what?" Jim laughed, more than a little alarmed at the confusing mix of emotions that she was exuding. Gently, he covered her hand with his, trying to pull it away from her side. "What happened? Did you get hurt?"

"No," Claire replied, shaking her head. She resisted his pulling for a few seconds, and then relaxed, letting Jim pull her hand away from her side. Gently lifting her shirt up (well, one of his shirts), he gasped in surprise as he saw the fresh, but small, incision on her lower stomach. It was stitched together with surgical precision, and looked like it was healing well.

"What happened?" Jim demanded in a gentle voice, moving to sit up next to his mate. He let go of her shirt and lifted his hand to Claire's face again, gently cupping her chin and tilting her head toward his. Leaning forward, he pressed a soft kiss to each of her closed eyes and gently licked her cheek. "Baby, what happened?"

Claire let out a sob, clapping a hand to her mouth as she pulled away from him, more guilt building up in her. "Please don't call me that. I can't…" Jim shook his head, confused by her conflicting emotions, but remained silent. After a few seconds, Claire turned and threw herself into his chest, tucking her head under his chin, her whole body trembling with sobs. "I'm so, _so_ sorry."

"Hey," Jim tried to soothe Claire, hugging her to himself gently, his hands rubbing soothingly up and down her back. "You have nothing to be sorry for, honey. You saved the day, busting in there with Moonlight. That was pretty badass." Instead of laughing, like he had hoped that she would, Claire sobbed again, pressing herself deeper into his embrace. Her grief was so overwhelming that it was like she was mourning someone's death. "Claire, you're scaring me — what's wrong?"

"It…" Claire sobbed, her whole body trembling as she struggled to get her words out. She turned further into his embrace and sat up on her knees to wrap her arms around his shoulders. Burying her face in his neck, he felt her hitching breath tickle his ear as she continued, "It… oh, Jim… it was ectopic."

Jim froze, his heart clenching in his chest as he recognized the word, and suddenly everything made sense. The strange, sickly sweet scent that she had developed that now seemed to have dissipated, the intense grief that she had been feeling, and even the sudden loss in connection that he'd had with her when he and Aja had been attempting to escape the military base. He quickly did the math in his head and realized that it must have happened several weeks ago, around Mother's Day. Claire would have been almost three months — too far along for any medication to stop the progress easily. She would have had to undergo surgery to remove—

"Oh, Deya…" Jim breathed, tightening his arms around his mate and hugging her sobbing form tightly. "Claire…"

"I'm so sorry!" she sobbed, and he shook his head in confusion over her guilt.

"No," Jim whispered back, turning to press his lips to her cheek. "No, no. It's not your fault. God, Claire… it just happens, sometimes. _I'm_ sorry."

"It's not your fault, either," she murmured back as she let him begin to rock her back and forth in his arms.

"You must have been terrified," Jim replied, a sob of his own building in his chest. "And you were alone. I should have been with you. I should have—"

"Just hold me," Claire begged, collapsing her weight against him. He pulled her into his lap, and then laid them back down in their bed, cocooning them in the pillows and blankets of their nest.

Jim wasn't sure what time it was — hell, he didn't even know what _day_ it was — but he didn't hear anyone moving around or speaking, though he could scent their presence just beyond the curtain that served as the door to their bedroom. His daughter's scent was mixed in with the others', and he was relieved to know that she was safe, likely being cuddled by one of her aunts, uncles, or grandparents. He closed his eyes and curled his body around his mate's protectively, his own grief quickly mingling with hers. He was still half in shock from what had happened to him, and now what he knew his mate had had to go through by herself. Part of him was also guilt-ridden over the fact that he hadn't recognized Claire's condition sooner — it wasn't like he didn't know what she smelled like when she was pregnant, but he hadn't been looking for it either. Her pregnancy with Ellie had smelled _healthy_ , however, while this one most definitely hadn't. He'd _known_ something was wrong, but it had never occurred to him that Claire was actually pregnant. She also hadn't exhibited any of the outward symptoms of pregnancy as she had the last time; she'd had terrible morning sickness with Ellie, but as far as he knew, she'd not even had so much as a stomach ache in months. He realized belatedly that he'd also never considered it as a possibility — in the vision that the Mother Dragon had shown him, Ellie would be a toddler when they would have their second child. It had never occurred to him that they might conceive again before that, but not carry to term for some reason.

Jim's heart throbbed in agony, his throat tightening as his own tears began to spill over.

. . .

"Hey, there's Daddy!"

Jim smiled tiredly as he let the curtain fall closed behind him, and he was met by his friends and family lounging in various places around his living room and kitchen. Steve and Eli were hovering over the fire pit in the kitchen, trying to cook… something; whatever it was smelled less than edible — for humans, anyway. Mary was "supervising" them with a dubious expression. The living room seemed to be the hub, the entire floor covered in blankets and pillows, the various bodies of his friends and family sprawled around the room in sleep, or just lounging around. Nancy Domzalski was snoring away loudly on the couch, while Barbara and Strickler — in his normal troll form, his Glamour Mask discarded — were seated on the floor in front of the couch, conversing quietly with one another. Toby and Darci were curled up together, sound asleep against the far wall, and next to them was a glowing ball of limbs. It took Jim a few seconds to realize that it was the Tarron siblings, holding each other close as they slept. Krel did not look much like his human form at all, though Jim knew that it couldn't be anyone else. He was wearing the same type of black suit that Aja had been, and even his visible Life Core was merely an inverse version of his sister's. In their human forms, they could have been mistaken for the same age — he'd assumed that they must have been fraternal twins, or even adopted — but in their native forms, it was obvious that Krel was very much the little brother that Aja always claimed him to be. He was smaller than her, his facial features more childish, and the way Aja was holding him was every bit the protective, older sister that she really was. Aja's suit was still missing, though someone — likely Claire — had given her a pair of loose, purple pajama pants and one of his white t-shirts to wear, so that she was no longer _completely_ on display.

To Jim's great surprise, it was Ophelia Nuñez who had been the one to point out his presence to his daughter. She and Javier were seated on the floor in the middle of the room, watching over his 6-month-old baby and a little blonde toddler, who could be none other than Enrique. It had been nearly a year since he had last seen his little brother-in-law, and he had to remind himself that the child was now 2, and not an infant anymore. Enrique was dressed in denim overalls and a white t-shirt, and his hair had grown into a cute, blonde mess. His face had thinned a little, losing some of his baby fat, but his dimples still appeared when he smiled. The toddler was seated on a blanket, playing with Ellie's stone blocks. The baby herself was sitting up between Ophelia's outstretched legs, her back braced against her grandmother's stomach to keep from toppling over, though Jim was a little surprised that she wasn't crawling all over the place, which was usually her favorite past time. She was chewing on the corner of one of her blocks, but she tossed it aside when she saw him and began to fuss, lifting her arms toward him and clenching her fists.

"There's my girl," Jim breathed in relief, moving to his mother-in-law's side and cautiously sitting on the floor next to her. As he reached for his baby, Ophelia picked Ellie up and cuddled her briefly before passing her off to Jim. He took her, grateful and more than a little surprised and skeptical about the change in attitude. Javier, however, merely smiled proudly as he watched the interaction, and Jim relaxed a little. "Thank you for looking after her."

"Of course," Ophelia replied, her voice quiet as her face flushed. "I… she's a lot like Claire."

"Yeah," Jim agreed, cuddling his baby close, nuzzling her soft hair and breathing in her familiar scent. "God, I missed you."

Javier chuckled, his smile widening. "Ah, she missed you too. She was _not_ happy to be without Mommy and Daddy for—"

" _Javier_ ," Ophelia hissed in a light warning voice, glancing nervously at Jim, as though she were worried that her husband was about to spill the beans on a big secret.

"Claire told me," Jim admitted in a whisper, having guessed what they were talking about. He avoided their gazes as he looked down at his fussing infant, fighting off the urge to start crying again. "I know that she was probably in the hospital for a couple of days."

"Jim…" Jim looked around at the sound of his mother's voice to see her scooting herself the few feet forward needed to sit next to him, but he couldn't bring himself to meet anyone's concerned gaze just yet. "Is she asleep?"

"Yeah," Jim said again, nodding. Ellie yawned in his arms and then sneezed, a snot bubble popping cutely from her nose. He chuckled and leaned forward to lick her face clean, ignoring the slightly disgusted sounds the others made. His baby started purring at the familiar action, and he could feel her relaxing further into his arms. Leaning back, he continued speaking as if nothing had stopped him. "She's exhausted."

"You must be too," Strickler said, moving to sit on his girlfriend's other side, giving Jim a concerned once-over. "Aja told us what they did to you both."

"I'm fine," Jim replied dismissively. "I healed quick enough. I don't know what they did to Aja, though. They kept me heavily sedated, so that I couldn't preform any more magic. Apparently, my fire spell burnt down an entire wing of the building."

"It did," Strickler said, a proud undertone in his voice. "It was attributed to a gas leak, of course, but it was bad enough to warrant coverage by several national news outlets."

Jim frowned, a sudden thought occurring to him. "Did anyone get hurt?"

"We don't believe so," Barbara said, shaking her head. "If they did, no one's admitting it. You only did what you had to do to protect yourself and Aja, honey. No one blames you."

Jim shrugged weakly, letting Ellie grab one of his fingers and start chewing on it. He noted a couple of hard ridges starting to come up through her gums in the bottom front, and cringed a little as he realized that her fangs were starting to come in. "Has she eaten?"

"Claire nursed her several hours ago," Ophelia admitted, reaching forward to tickle one of the baby's feet. Ellie giggled and drooled, kicking her feet playfully. "Toby said that she's on baby food and some solids already, but she wouldn't take it from any of us."

"You got the jarred stuff?" Jim asked knowingly, chuckling and shaking his head in amusement.

"Ah, is my granddaughter a picky eater?" Javier replied, chuckling.

Jim nodded, smiling down at the baby. "Ellie." Ellie tilted her head, grinning up at him as he called her name. "Are you hungry? Want nummies?"

Ellie squealed, letting go of Jim's finger to tap her hand against her mouth excitedly. Beside him, Barbara laughed. "Sign language?"

"Claire's idea," Jim said, smiling proudly. "She caught on quick." Ellie whined to gain their attention again, waving her hand in the air. She clenched and opened her fist repeatedly and tapped her other hand against her mouth again. Jim chuckled again. "She wants milk."

"I'll take her into Claire," Barbara said, holding her arms out for the baby. "I should check on her, anyway."

"She's sleeping," Jim said, frowning in confusion, even as he shifted Ellie from his arms to his mother's.

Barbara merely nodded, standing to her feet. Jim watched as she silently took his baby and disappeared into the bedroom. Jim glanced around to his in-laws, who were suddenly very interested in playing with their toddler, and then to Strickler. The older troll was watching Jim closely, his gaze bright and concerned, and Jim recognized the agitated fidgeting of the man's wings.

"Let's go for a walk," Strickler said after a moment, standing to his feet and offering a hand down to Jim to help him up. Jim only hesitated for a moment before accepting the offered hand and letting the man pull him to his feet. Silently, Jim followed his would be step-father's lead, following him out of the makeshift front door. They walked in silence for a few minutes, deeper down one of the un-excavated caverns, until Strickler came to a stop overlooking a steep drop that housed an underground lake at the bottom.

"What is it?" Jim demanded anxiously after they had stood together in silence for another minute.

Strickler hesitated for a few seconds, his wings rustling in nervous agitation, and then sighed. "What… did she tell you?"

Jim stiffened, looking away from the man to stare down at the floor. In a pained whisper, he admitted, "I know she had surgery."

"And did she tell you that she left the hospital against medical advice?" Strickler asked in a gentle tone, and Jim looked up in surprise.

"I saw the incision," Jim said, cocking his head to the side in confusion. "It looked like it was healing well, and she doesn't smell of infection or anything."

"No," the older man said, nodding. "But…"

"But…?" Jim prompted, his stomach twisting with nerves. "But what?"

"Jim…" Strickler sighed, and then he stepped closer to Jim, grasping his arm lightly. "It wasn't a simple fix. Her left fallopian tube ruptured; they had to remove the whole tube. It… might be difficult for Claire to conceive again, in the future."

Jim felt like he'd just been sucker punched in the gut, his breath sucked out of him in shock. Dizzy and sick, he started to wobble on his feet, but Strickler seemed to have anticipated this and used his grasp on Jim's arm to guide him down to sit on the cavern floor. Stretching his right wing out behind them, the Changeling sort of hugged Jim with it, covering him like a protective blanket.

"This is all my fault," Jim whispered in a hoarse voice, covering his face with his hands in anguish. His shoulders trembled with the effort of keeping in a new round of tears, and Strickler curled his wing and his arm tighter around Jim. "I should have known. I should have—"

"How could you have?" Strickler asked in a gentle voice, squeezing Jim's shoulder lightly. "Her scent was so off — it didn't occur to me, either."

"She was all alone," Jim sobbed, finally giving into his emotions. "She went through that all alone."

"While you were being _tortured_ , Jim," Strickler replied, his voice soft and compassionate. "You were just as alone and scared as she was. You were both very brave."

"I'm _not_ ," Jim cried, curling further in on himself, heaving with sobs. "I can't… I don't…"

"Shh…" Strickler whispered, pulling Jim into his arms and letting him literally cry on his shoulder. His wings wrapped around them protectively. "It's all right, Jim. No one expects either of you to just be okay with all of this, or to brush it off. We all know that you're both grieving, and no one will fault you for that."

"It's not _fair_ ," Jim sobbed, feeling more and more like a child as he allowed his emotions to flood to the surface. "Why? _Why_?!"

"Your mother's a doctor," Strickler responded, rubbing Jim's back soothingly. "You know that there's no accounting for things sometimes going awry. There was nothing you could have done to change this."

"It's not fair," Jim whimpered again, his breath hitching unevenly as he cried. "Is it… is it because of me…?"

"No," Strickler replied in a firm voice, shaking his head as he read into Jim's fears. "No. If that were the case, Ellie wouldn't be with us, would she?"

Jim shook his head, calming a little at the reminder of his daughter. "No."

"And _difficult_ isn't the same as _impossible_ , Young Atlas," Strickler continued in a soothing tone, pushing Jim back slightly and butting their horns together gently. "You and Claire are both strong people. I'm sure I'll have a dozen more grandchildren over the years… provided I ever get the nerve to ask your mother to marry me, that is."

Jim snorted a watery laugh. "I was wondering about that."

"I'm a coward," Strickler said, an annoyed growl rumbling in his chest, even as he continued to hug Jim comfortingly. "But now's not the time, anyway."

"What do I do?" Jim whispered after a few seconds of contemplative silence. "How can I make this right?"

Strickler shook his head, his wings fluttering around them. "You would know what your mate needs far better than I. And neither of you did anything wrong, Jim. Just be there for each other, especially right now."

Jim nodded, taking a minute to collect himself, and then leaned away from the older troll. As he did, Strickler released his hold on Jim and reached down to slip a hand into his pants pocket. When he brought it back out, he was grasping the Amulet of Daylight, which he offered to Jim with an open palm. "Don't make it weird."

Jim gave another short, watery laugh and gratefully took the Amulet from Strickler, laughing again when Ywain's frantic worries and admonishments flooded his head. Strickler, obviously unable to hear the boy's words, gave Jim a strange look, but he shook his head. "Thank you."

"Thank Krel," Strickler chuckled, eyeing Jim closely for a few seconds, but clearly deciding to let his odd behavior go. "Apparently, they thought it was alien tech and were attempting to persuade Aja to tell them what it was for and how it worked. Krel recognized it and snatched it, when he rescued his sister."

Jim winced, a new sense of guilt building up in him. "Did they… torture her?"

"I don't know," Strickler replied in a soft voice, his expression reserved. "She hasn't said much about it. Even Zadra couldn't get anything out of—"

"Zadra is okay?" Jim interrupted, gasping in slight relief. He had scented AAARRRGGHH! earlier, but that didn't mean Zadra was safe. Jim wasn't crazy about the woman, but he didn't want her to be captured or injured.

"Yes," Strickler nodded, laughing a little. "She's become quite fond of New Trollmarket's pub, and the trolls find her fascinating."

Jim snorted a short laugh, shaking his head. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

Strickler smirked and rolled his eyes. Standing, he helped Jim back to his feet, and they both moved to start walking back along the path. Jim could hear more voices coming from the direction of his cave, but the tones were light and accompanied with laughter. More concerning, however, was the slight scent of smoke and curdled milk.

"What have you done to my skillet, Steve?" Jim demanded as he and Strickler entered the cave again, and they saw the aforementioned blonde and his best friend eyeing the blackened and smoking skillet with equal looks of panic. Laughing hysterically, Mary was taking pictures of the boys and the burnt mess with her phone, which she then showed to a giggling, yet still tired-looking Aja.

"Uh…" Steve mumbled nervously, giving Jim an apologetic shrug. "Um… I was going for pancakes, but they came out a little… crispy."

"That is an understatement of epic proportions, Mr. Palchuck," Strickler said with a soft chuckle.

"What is that horrible smell?"

Jim looked up at the voice of his mate, his heart doing a somersault in his chest as he saw her push aside the curtain separating their bedroom from the rest of the cave. Her eyes were red-rimmed, deep shadows underneath, but her expression was calm as she met his gaze. Claire gave him a small, hesitant smile, and he smiled back, silently reaching out an arm to pull her into a light hug as she walked over to him. Ellie was fast asleep in her mother's arms, and only shuffled a little bit when she was pressed between their bodies.

"You okay?" Jim asked in a quiet voice, pressing a light kiss to Claire's forehead. He was aware that everyone likely knew what had happened — they probably knew more than he did, at this point — but they politely ignored the couple's intimate moment.

Claire nodded, nuzzling his neck sweetly. "Just tired."

"If you need more rest—" Jim began, but Claire cut him off with a soft laugh. Leaning back from his embrace, she smiled up at him, lifting a hand to gently caress his cheek.

"And let these hooligans burn my cave down?"

Jim snorted a laugh, rolling his eyes, only laughing harder when Steve sputtered indignantly at the accusation.

"It's a _cave_ ," the blonde said huffily. "It's _rock_. You can't burn _rock_."

"No, but you can cause carbon monoxide poisoning, if you don't vent the smoke you create," Jim chuckled, stepping away from his mate to snatch the smoking skillet from Steve's hand. When they'd first started creating this part of the cavern system into their home, he had thought to carve a channel to divert some of the water flow from the underground river into a reservoir that was carved into the counter, like a sink. The water flowed in at a high angle on one side, and there was another channel dug low on the other side to let the water flow back out to rejoin the river again. Both channels could be blocked to prevent the water from going in, leaving, or both. Someone had figured the system out and had filled the basin with fresh water, which he used to douse the burning skillet.

A sudden rush of cool air breezed through the cave, the little bit of smoke in the air sucked up through the vent in the ceiling. Jim looked back to see that Claire had pulled the cord to open the cap that he'd made to cover the channel in the ceiling that he'd carefully carved out to act as a chimney. The others were watching their actions with curious expressions.

"Fascinating," Krel's tired voice rung out, and Jim looked over to see the young, alien boy leaning against the wall. He eyes darted around the room, taking in the different contraptions that Jim and Claire had created to help them live safely underground. "I thought you failed science?"

"Technically," Jim started in a slightly offended tone. "I didn't fail, because I didn't graduate."

Claire laughed lightly. "And the trolls have been living like this forever, so we've learned what works."

"Guess we'll all be learning survival tricks soon," Toby said as he and Darci rounded the corner, both looking sleep tussled. The chubby boy yawned, stretching his arms above his head, his back cracking as he stretched.

"What?" Jim asked, frowning as the feeling that he was missing something obvious hit him. "Why?"

"The military is looking for us," Strickler said in a subdued tone. "Aside from the obvious connections to both you and Aja, we were all present that night, and Mr. Scott identified us to Kubritz."

"I'm so sorry," Darci said in a choked voice, and Jim looked to the girl, her eyes downcast, and her face unusually pale. "I had no idea…"

"It's not your fault, Darce," Claire replied, walking over to her sister and pulling her into a tight hug. "She must have already had some suspicions. I mean, who shows up to someone else's party completely unannounced?"

"Dad had been texting me," Darci said in a choked whisper, letting Claire hug her even as she covered her face with her hands. "But I had my phone on silent and the vibration turned off. If I had just checked my phone—"

"It is never good to play the 'what if' game," Aja interjected, sharing a fond smile with her brother. "And it is not your fault. Krel and I have met your aunt before, in our native forms. It is more likely that she merely discovered our presence in Arcadia and made the connection."

"Where is Detective Scott now?" Jim asked, crossing his arms over his chest nervously.

"Still in Arcadia, I guess," Darci shrugged weakly, pulling back from Claire's loose embrace and reaching over to grasp her boyfriend's hand in hers. She gave a soft laugh and said, "He may be under the impression that Toby and I've decided to run away and elope."

"Oh, my Toby-kins is getting _married_? What a stud muffin!"

"Uh…" Toby laughed nervously as Nana came up behind him, pinching his cheek. "Not _yet_ , Nana! That was a lie."

"Oh," Nana said, pouting in disappointment. "But I was saving Ralphie's tux for you!"

Jim couldn't help but laugh, shaking his head. "Okay, well, that would only explain away Toby and Darci's disappearance. What about everyone else?"

"We were already… _visited_ ," Javier grumbled in an annoyed voice, standing next to his wife as he cradled their dozing toddler. "The military asked a thousand questions, but we couldn't answer most of them, anyway."

"Claire… got sick… in the meantime," Ophelia continued to explain in a subdued tone. "Mary was able to send us a message through some spell that Merlin showed her how to use, so no one could track her or us."

"They'll have no way to track something insubstantial, like magic," Jim surmised, nodding in agreement. "But… how can you go back?"

"We can't," Barbara said, coming out of the bedroom, her medical bag hanging from her shoulder. Jim tried desperately to ignore the scent of his mate's blood coming from something within the bag. "At least not to stay. We've been discussing our plan of attack, so to speak. We'll have to be subtle, but with Ophelia's connections within the city government, we can all… disappear."

"Slowly, of course," Ophelia interjected, wringing her hands nervously in front of herself. "And it will probably require some of that memory erasing spell that Merlin gave us before. It wouldn't be unusual for Barb and Walt to simply move away, but it won't be so easy for the kids, or even myself and Javier. If we all leave at once, that will be a big tip off."

"But Mama and Papa—" Aja started, her expression becoming frightened, but her brother quickly rushed to her side.

"It is the _okay_ ," Krel said, grabbing his sister's four hands in his matching ones. "Claire has told us that this Merlin has magic that can move our ship without it having to expand any power and without anyone noticing. We merely have to find a suitable place to transport it to."

"But—"

"Stuart is watching over everything while we are gone," Krel assured Aja as she worriedly protested.

"Stuart?" Jim asked, not recognizing the name. Toby was the one to answer, gasping and practically vibrating in excitement.

"Dude," he began, smiling widely, his expression a little manic. "Mr. Durio is an _alien_! Oh, uh…" Toby hesitated as Krel and Aja glared at him. "Sorry. I meant _interplanetary being_."

"Wait," Jim said, holding up a hand and blinking in surprise. "Mr. Durio… like Mr. Durio, the owner of Stuart's Electronics and the Taco Truck?"

"The very same!"

"Somehow, that now makes total sense," he laughed, shaking his head in amusement. "As much sense as any of this can make, anyway."

"But how will he contact us?" Aja worried, rubbing all of her arms together anxiously. "Can she not track our technology?"

"All of us ditched our phones," Darci said, stepping away from her boyfriend and snatching Mary's phone from her hand.

"Hey!"

"Even this one is a burner," Darci continued, ignoring her best friend's indignant shout. Jim held his hand out, and Darci tossed it to him without argument.

"It's not like you can get a signal down here, anyway," Mary grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting. "Hey, don't break it!"

"Mary, contrary to your belief," Jim started in an apologetic voice as he crushed the phone in his hand. "You actually _can_ get a signal down here, in certain places, and I'm sure you've got some interesting pictures on here."

"But—"

"Give me your back up," Jim demanded gently, holding out his other hand. Mary jerked back, a horrified expression on her face, as if he had just asked her to hand over her first born for slaughter. "Mary."

"I don't have one," Mary replied far too quickly. "That was it."

" _Mary_ ," Jim said again, his voice hard as he glared down at her.

"But…" Mary whimpered, her bottom lip trembling.

"Please, Mare," Claire said, moving to stand next to the girl, gently rocking the sleeping baby in her arms. "We can't risk being found, even accidentally. We're not the only ones at risk. If she finds us here, she finds the trolls, and all the connections we have to the mythical world. And then there's Ellie — can you imagine what she would do with someone as unique as her?"

"Oh…" Mary groaned, rolling her eyes as she proceeded to pull two other phones from her back pocket. "Why d'you gotta soften me up with the kid?"

"Because you're a good aunt, who loves her niece," Claire replied with a gentle smile. Jim took the phones from Mary and proceeded to crush them in his hands.

Mary cringed and looked away from the carnage and Jim laughed. "I'll pay you back, Mare."

"Don't bother," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "If you're gonna cut me off, don't enable me to start up again."

Jim laughed and shook his head. "Anyone else?"

"I started using burner phones after Aja and I got together," Steve said, shrugging slightly. He moved to his girlfriend's side, and lifted a hand to gently caress her cheek, a loving smile on his face. Jim had never seen Steve look so vulnerable before, and he was happy for his former enemy. "I didn't want to take the risk of putting them in danger."

"Eli?" Jim asked, turning to the smaller boy, who had been unnervingly quiet through all of this. "You look nervous. What's up?"

"Um…" Eli wrung his hands together nervously, staring down at the floor to avoid catching anyone's gaze. "I, um… I don't have a phone. I threw it out in Arcadia. But…"

"But…?" Strickler prompted in his stern teacher voice. The glare that went with it was just as intimidating in his troll form as it was in his human form.

Eli only glanced up briefly at his former teacher's voice, but cringed at the look, staring down at the floor again. "I… I was thinking about how Darci's aunt could have just _known_ all about Jim and Aja… because it wasn't a coincidence, was it? I mean, she had people _waiting_ in the woods to ambush anyone they wanted. And then her just randomly showing up to a place where she knew all of you would be, because Detective Scott would have known where Darci was going and who would be there. It all just seemed too… _planned_ , I guess."

"I was thinking the same," Krel said, nodding sagely. "Though, I do not know how she would have known our human forms."

"Well, that's the thing," Eli replied in an increasingly uncomfortable voice, his cheeks glowing red. "I, um… may have… putsomepicturesonline."

"You did _what_?!" several voices shouted at the same time, and Eli threw his hands over his head as if preparing to be hit.

"Why—? When—?" Steve stuttered, his eyes wide and shocked as he marched forward and grabbed his best friend by the shirt and shook him roughly.

"It was a while ago!" Eli shouted desperately, covering his face with his hands, his feet kicking weakly in mid-air. "And _you_ said 'pics, or it didn't happen'!"

"We were in the middle of a _battle_!" Steve exclaimed, dropping the boy back to the ground and grabbing his own hair in frustration. "I didn't expect you to actually drop everything and do something stupid like that!"

"You wouldn't believe me!" Eli screeched back, stumbling as he landed on his feet. "You're the one person who's ever believed me about _anything_ , but you refused to take my side on that! So, I…" the boy dropped his gaze again, his voice guilt ridden. "I needed proof, so you would believe me."

"Oh, Eli…" Aja sighed in a disappointed voice, bringing one of her hands up to rub tiredly at her eyes. "It is not that Steve did not believe you. He already knew about us. He was trying to keep our secret."

"But…" Eli began, his eyes wide as he looked frantically between Aja and Steve. "But I'm your best friend!"

"You are," Steve replied, letting his hair go to drop his arms limply to his sides. "But I know how much you were obsessing over this, and I couldn't let you put them at risk! You're my best friend, but Aja is my other half. I couldn't trust you not to freak out and post shit on _crock circles dot com_!"

"I did," Eli admitted with a bitter pout. "But the admin kept taking the pics down, and then he banned me because he said I kept posting _fakes_!"

"Aye, aye, aye!" Krel groaned, rolling his eyes. His bottom two arms were crossed tensely over his stomach while his upper two arms waved frantically at Eli. "That is because the admin is _Stuart_!"

"Oh," Eli gasped in a small voice, cringing back from the glares that he was getting. "I guess that makes sense."

"Eli, what kind of pictures did you put up?" Claire asked worriedly, passing the sleeping baby off to Darci and walking up to the small, nervous boy. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and tilted her head slightly, encouraging Eli to look up at her. "What other information did you give?"

"Well, I mean…" Eli shuffled his feet, glancing up at Claire's patient expression apologetically. "I've had a blog up for a few years…"

"A _blog_?!" everyone shouted incredulously. Jim groaned and grabbed his longer horn anxiously when Ellie gasped awake and started crying.

"We've got her," Darci assured Jim as he made to step forward and take the baby, and she deftly lifted the infant to her shoulder, rocking and cooing to her soothingly. Beside her, Toby reached over and gently rubbed Ellie's back and the baby quieted again as she was comforted.

"Mr. Pepperjack," Strickler began in a tight voice, his eyes closed and his back rigid as he seemed to try and hold in his temper. "While I can understand your previous obsession with the supernatural, _why_ would you continue to broadcast it _after_ our existences were confirmed to you?"

"I _did_ tone stuff down on the troll info!" Eli protested, holding his hands up defensively. "But the public has a right to know—"

" _Eli_!" Jim growled, silently reminding himself that this boy was his friend and resisting the urge to grab him and shake him until his head popped off. "This isn't the _X-Files_! We're not some _creatures_ that can just be exposed to the world to be studied! We have _lives_ and _families_!"

"Jim…" Claire called his name in a gentle voice and walked over to his side. Jim gripped his horn tighter, trying desperately to rein in his temper and at least stop baring his teeth. Turning back to Eli, she continued in a softer voice, lacking anger, but full of exhaustion and disappointment. "Eli, please tell me that you didn't give our location here."

"Of course not!" Eli exclaimed in a subdued and guilty voice. His face was red, his eyes beginning to water. "I'm not _that_ stupid! And I never posted names or anything like that!"

"I have to take this to the Elders," Jim said in a whisper to his mate, his gut twisting. Eli was his friend, but the boy's actions had put all of his pack at risk, not just himself. "I don't have a choice."

"What will they do?" Claire asked, frowning in concern as she glanced back to Eli, who was leaning forward, anxiously trying to listen in.

Jim shook his head, letting his horn go to cross his arms over his chest. "I don't know."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Steve interrupted, having caught the whispered conversation. He rushed back to his best friend's side and pulled the boy protectively behind his back. "Sure, Eli made a huge mistake, but is throwing him to the mercy of _trolls_ really necessary?"

"What?!" Eli yelped, looking around frantically at everyone present. "No, no! I thought we already had a plan of attack?! What happened to everyone moving out of Arcadia and going into hiding?"

"Well, that was before you told us that you have a _fucking blog_ that exposes us all to _everyone_!" Jim growled, taking an advancing step forward in aggravation.

"Jim!" Barbara admonished, rushing in front of Steve and Eli and halting Jim's progress by pressing her hands to his chest. "That's enough! Steve's right; we already have a plan—"

"Jim's right too, though," Toby said, biting his lip anxiously as he stepped into the group. "He's the Trollhunter, but he's gotta answer to the Elders. He has to tell them. They won't hurt Eli."

"I thought you said that they sentenced Jim to execution just because he went into the Darklands to rescue Claire's little brother?" Steve exclaimed, waving his hands frantically between Toby and Jim.

" _What_?!" the various parental figures in the room yelped in surprise, and Jim and Claire glared at their best friend, who cringed back in guilt.

"I wasn't sentenced to execution," Jim assured everyone, forcing his voice to be calm. "I was sentenced to banishment."

"In a place that you were guaranteed to die in, right?" Steve went on, ignoring the furious glare that Claire was shooting him.

"Those were unique circumstances," Toby said, laughing nervously. "And Jim _didn't_ die, and it all worked out!"

" _Who_ , exactly, is handing out these death sentences?" Barbara said, holding up her hands in a 'stop everything' gesture. "And _why_ was I not informed of this?"

"No one," Jim assured his mother placatingly. "It was when Usurna was manipulating the Tribunal. Under normal circumstances, things never would have escalated to that level."

"Uh huh," Mary said in a slightly skeptical voice, chewing her bottom lip nervously. "And, uh… the exposure of your entire existence to the world's military… that would be considered a _normal circumstance_?"

"Um…"

"I'm going to be _troll food_!" Eli wailed, clapping his hands to his face and starting to hyperventilate.

"No, you're not," Jim said, sighing impatiently. "I swear to you that you're safe. But I still need to tell—"

They all jumped as the chorus of _Girls Just Want to Have Fun_ rung out from a shelf carved into the wall. Huffing an agitated sigh, Claire rolled her eyes and walked over to quickly retrieve her phone.

"What now?" she muttered in annoyance under her breath as she pressed the 'answer' key and pressed the phone to her ear. "Sarah, I love you, but I'll have to call you back lat—" Everyone watched in confused silence as Claire broke off, frowning as she listened to the voice on the other end. Jim's eyes widened as he heard the tone on the other end, realizing that the voice was deeper and definitely _not_ female. "I can't… wait… Mr. Lake, please slow down."

Barbara gasped lightly, her eyes widening in shock, even as her face turned red.

"Dad?" Jim said, snatching the phone from his mate and pressing it to his ear. "What's wrong?"

"It's Sarah!" James exclaimed on the other end of the line, his voice frantic and panicked. "I just found her. She's gotten into something… I don't know! She keeps saying your name, and someone named _Ellie_ , but she-she's _seizing_!"

"Jesus, Dad!" Jim exclaimed, baring his teeth unconsciously as his free hand jumped up to grab his horn again. "It didn't occur to you to call an _ambulance_?"

"With the amount of illegal shit in this house?" James shouted back, his voice high-pitched. "She'll be carted off to _jail_! I don't know what to—"

Jim jumped in surprise as the phone was ripped away from him, and then his mother was speaking in her professional doctor voice into the device.

"James? What's happening?" Barbara paused as she listened to the response. Jim didn't miss the way that she reached out for her boyfriend's hand and gripped it tightly in her own when he gave it to her. "Okay, lie her on her side, and put a pillow under her head. You'll need to put your fingers in her mouth to make sure that she isn't choking on her tongue." James said something on the other end, and Barbara scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Yes, James, she might bite. Would you rather she choke to death? No, I didn't think so. Keep her like that, and we'll be there soon."

With that, Barbara pulled the phone away from her ear and pressed the 'end' key, passing the device back to a shocked Claire. Letting go of Strickler's hand, she moved with professional grace to pick up her medical bag and slung it over her shoulder.

"Barb, what…?" Strickler started to ask, but she shook her head minutely.

"You're going to need your Glamour Mask," Barbara replied in a firm voice to her boyfriend, and then she turned back to Jim. "You too. We found it in the woods, and Claire's got it."

"Barbara—" Claire tried to interrupt, rushing forward to stop her mother-in-law's hurried movements. "Wait a minute! What is— ah!"

" _Claire_!"

Jim grabbed his mate to keep her from hitting the floor as her knees buckled, her hands flying to her side, grimacing in pain. "God, Claire—"

" _You_ ," Barbara interrupted, marching up to them and gently helping Jim pull Claire back to her feet. "… are going back to bed. Right now."

"I'm fine—" Claire tried to say, but her breath caught in pain, her knees weakening again.

"Darci, can you watch Ellie for a bit more?" Jim asked, bending to scoop Claire up into his arms.

"Of course," Darci replied, rocking the baby in her arms reassuredly. "Toby and I will look after her."

"No, I…" Claire tried to protest again, but her voice was weak and Jim was already carrying her into their bedroom. "Jim…"

"Don't push yourself, love," Jim said quietly, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead as he laid her down in their bed. "Where's the mask?"

"Let me—"

"Claire," Jim murmured, gently licking his mate's cheek. "It's okay. You need to rest."

"No," Claire protested weakly, nuzzling him back even as she tried to push herself out of the bed. "I can't. I need to stay busy. I need to—"

"Hey," Jim lifted a hand to gently caress Claire's cheek, using his weight to slowly push her back down. "You've been so strong; it's time to be a little weak, okay? You need to rest and let yourself heal."

Claire sucked in a shaky breath, and Jim half expected her to start arguing with him again; instead, she closed her eyes and laid back, nodding even as she began to cry. "I don't want to think about it."

"I know," Jim whispered back, pressing his forehead to hers and nuzzling their noses together. "I know, ba— honey." Jim cringed back, catching himself from using his most common pet name.

Claire shook her head, giving a watery laugh. "I'm sorry. You can call me 'baby.' I just…"

"I know," Jim repeated, gently licking her cheeks and then her lips. "We're gonna be okay."

"I know," Claire agreed with a small laugh, catching his lips with her own in a deep kiss that reassured him that they _were_ going to be okay, even if _okay_ took a while to get to.

 _To be continued..._

✧ ✩ _**PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!**_ ✩ ✧


	31. Chapter Thirty-One

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

➳ _There was a question brought up about seizures by an anonymous reviewer, which I couldn't respond to privately, so I am going to take a minute to address it here: as someone who has suffered seizures before, I can assure you that the "swallowing your tongue thing" is NOT a myth, and can actually happen. No, you don't want to go sticking weird things, like marbles, in someone's mouth while they are seizing, but fingers are "safe" because - while you may get bit - you're not likely to have your finger bitten OFF, and you can actually feel what you're doing to prevent the person who is seizing from choking on anything, their tongue and your fingers included. Another option is to have them bite down on a ruler or dowel crossways to prevent them from biting themselves._ _Enjoy, my loves!_

 **Chapter Thirty-One**

"How did you get here so fast?!"

"Magic."

"Ha ha, very funny."

"Where is she?" Barbara demanded, rolling her eyes as she pushed passed James and into the house.

Jim and Strickler followed after her, both giving each other nervous looks. James looked like he was either beyond worried or strung out, and Jim couldn't tell which, given that the Glamour Mask blocked his sense of smell. From the disarrayed look of the small entryway — bags of garbage strewn about, a few stray pizza boxes, pill bottles, and a few needles — he doubted whether he would have been able to scent out anything specific, anyway. Other than his gaunt expression and widened eyes, James was cleanly dressed, looking like he had just come home from work.

"Sh-she's back here," James said, grabbing his ex wife by the arm and tugging her after him, deeper into the house. "In her room."

Jim tensed, a protective growl rising in his chest, but Strickler gripped his upper arm lightly and shook his head. "He's not hurting her."

Jim grunted, pursing his lips together angrily. "I know, but…"

"I agree," Strickler said, nodding. "Let's just worry about your sister right now."

Jim nodded, but it still rankled him to see his father manhandling his mother, even if the man wasn't being intentionally rough. He'd never been to his father's house before; James had texted the address to Claire's phone, so he had been able to use his transportation charm to take them to a location that he had already been to that was fairly close by. They could have gone straight to Sarah, but magically popping up in front of a frantic James would have only made the situation worse, especially since Sarah was apparently high, and it was likely that her parents were as well. Speaking of which…

"Where's your wife?" Jim asked, looking around nervously for the woman, though the small house seemed otherwise empty of any other life.

"Fuck if I know," James groused, grimacing as his face reddened. "Probably on a drop or giving a blowjob in a back alley somewhere."

" _James_!" Barbara admonished, yanking her arm free from James's loose hold and stopping in the middle of the hall. She pointed an accusing finger at her ex-husband and then whirled around to point the same finger at Jim. "If I hear either of you use that word _one more time_ —"

"Really, Mom?" Jim rolled his eyes. "Do you think now is the best time to lecture me on word choice?"

"Barb, please!" James begged, grabbing her arm again and starting to pull her back down the hall. "I will happily sit for a full flogging later, if you just—"

"All right, all right," Barbara sighed, falling into step behind the man, coming to a stop only a few steps later in front of a slightly ajar door. The door was bright white, a stark contrast to the dingy, gray walls, and dirty baseboards of the rest of the house. On the floor, in front of the door, was a bright pink door mat with the words "GO AWAY" bedazzled into it with fake rhinestones. A simple poster of some '90's boy band was plastered in the center of the door, coupled with another poster of Wonder Woman, boasting "GIRL POWER" as her slogan.

"In here!" James said, pushing the door open without pause. Barbara pushed passed James and rushed into the room, Walt and Jim following after her. Sarah was curled up into a fetal position on a purple throw rug, wearing a black tank top and blue shorty shorts. She didn't seem to be convulsing, but she was clearly out of it, mumbling slurred words, her eyes open and rolling around in every direction.

"Walt, I'll need your help," Barbara said in her firm doctor voice as she quickly moved to Sarah's side and kneeled on the floor next to her. Strickler was by her side in an instant, ready to receive orders, but when Jim moved forward to help, his mother stopped him. "No, Jim. You and Dad wait out in the hall."

"Mom—"

"Barb—"

" _Out_ ," Barbara repeated, looking up to glare at the both of them. "You're both too emotional, and you'll only get in my way. Let me get her stabilized."

"Best do as your mother says, Young Atlas," Strickler said in a reassuring tone, giving Jim a soft smile. "I'll be here to help. Keep your father out of trouble."

"I am _not_ —" James started indignantly, but Jim grabbed his father's arm with a little more force than necessary and dragged him out of the room and shut the door behind him. "James, you let me—"

"Just let Mom and Pops do their thing," Jim said, shaking his head in annoyance as he pulled his father back down the hall. Glancing around at their surroundings, he deemed it probably a better idea to wait outside, rather than risk sitting on a hidden needle, so he pulled James along the way that they had come and back out the front door. "God, do you not clean?"

"Really? You're gonna lecture me right now?" James asked sarcastically, gently pulling his arm free from Jim's grip and leaning back against the rail of the front step. "I'm kind of having a bad day, if you hadn't noticed."

Jim snorted and rolled his eyes, mumbling under his breath, "Join the club."

They stood in awkward silence for a few minutes, the night air cool, despite being mid-July. The yellow street light illuminating the short driveway was buzzing with insects, and a dog was barking insistently in the distance. The small front yard was fenced in with rusting chainlink, a crumbling and moldy birdbath its only decoration. The slimy water was swarming with mosquitos, and Jim itched just looking at it. The neighbors on both sides were crammed pretty close to either said of James's house, and they looked to be in the same state of disarray. A couple shouting loudly and violently at each other echoed up the street, followed by the slamming of a car door and the loud revving of an engine. A few seconds later, a fancy, blue sports car of some kind zoomed past them and around the corner.

"Looks like Tony got caught again," James mumbled, rolling his eyes. Jim watched as his father reached into his back pants pocket and pulled out a carton of cigarettes and a lighter. "Want one?"

"I'm underage," Jim said in an exasperated voice, leaning back against the opposite rail of the steps to face his father, with a foot of space between them.

"Still got hitched, right?"

Jim rolled his eyes, sighing. "That's different."

"You want it or not, Jimmy?"

"No, thank you," Jim said, cringing at the nickname. James was the only one to have ever called Jim that, because he had forbidden anyone else from ever using that name. Once, it had been special — like a secret between them. Now, it was just a reminder of the man who had abandoned his family. "I don't want to test my daughter's susceptibility to asthma just yet."

"Had a girl, huh?" James asked, his voice soft and intrigued as he brought the cigarette to his mouth and proceeded to light it. Flicking the light out and taking a deep drag on the cigarette, he continued. "Got a picture?"

Jim hesitated, debating over whether or not he wanted to share any part of his personal life with his father. Sarah had been very loyal so far, in that she had respected his request to keep their father out of his personal life, but now things were all muddled together. Sighing, Jim reached into his back pocket to retrieve his phone, quickly flicking through the pictures to find a good one. He had a million of Ellie over the past 6 months; most were too candid to show someone who had no knowledge of the mythical world, but there were a fair few that he had taken of her wearing caps and hats, the backgrounds either human friendly or, at least, devoid of anything that could be magical.

"Here," Jim said, pushing away from the rail and stepping forward. His father did the same, meeting him in the middle, and Jim angled the phone to show off one of the most recent pictures he had taken, just a few weeks past. Ellie was being held by Claire as the two of them smiled at the camera, Claire holding up Ellie's hand to wave. Ellie was wearing a navy blue dress with white, lace frills on the bottom hem, the same lace making short, little bell sleeves on her shoulders. Atop her head was a wide, white sun hat that perfectly covered her horns and ear tips, though her hair discoloration was still visible. Claire was wearing simple jean shorts and her favorite pink Hamlet t-shirt. They were surrounded by fresh green leaves, the sun beating down on them from the tree canopy, dappling their flesh with soft shadows. Jim had taken the photo from the mouth of the cave, himself hidden in the safety of the shadows, while his wife and daughter soaked in the warm rays of the afternoon sun. It had been the first time that they had risked taking Ellie out into the sun, and they had both been terrified that she would react negatively; however, she had no reaction at all, except to blink repeatedly in the face of the bright light and new landscape. Neither Jim nor Claire knew if it was because of her mostly human status, or because she was a female (Hulders being one of the few troll beings who were able to survive being in the sun), but he was grateful that his daughter would get to enjoy the sun as much as he once had.

"Wow, I thought that was hair dye," James said in surprise, breaking Jim away from his thoughts as he looked over the photo.

"No," Jim replied, smiling fondly at his girls in the photo. "It's genetic on Claire's side."

"Huh," James hummed thoughtfully, blowing smoke out of the corner of his mouth, away from Jim. "She's a mini you without that white part in her hair."

"Yeah, but she's got Claire's freckles too," Jim said, tapping the screen to zoom in on the baby. "It's kind of hard to see in this photo, I guess, but they're brighter now."

"She's cute," James nodded, and Jim was surprised to hear the hint of pride in the man's voice. "What's her name?"

"Ellie."

"Oh," James gasped, his eyes widening. "So, _that's_ Ellie. I guess that makes sense."

"You said Sarah was saying her name?" Jim asked, flipping through a few of the photos from the same day to show his father.

"Yeah," James nodded, frowning in concern as he glanced nervously back toward the door. "She kept saying weird shit, like _I have to be better for Ellie_ and stuff like that. Figured she had found herself a serious girlfriend or something. It didn't occur to me that she was talking about your kid."

Jim shrugged awkwardly. "I didn't know Sarah dated."

"She doesn't," James said, taking another breath of smoke. "That's why I was kind of happy that I thought she might have found someone. Get away from all of this."

"You could have done that," Jim replied bitterly, glaring at the man.

"Tch," James scoffed, rolling his eyes and leaning back against his side of the step, away from Jim. "You don't understand."

"You _knew_ what she was doing to Sarah," Jim accused, rooted to his spot in the middle of the step. "You could have just gone to the police. Mom would have understood—"

"I know that," James interrupted, grimacing as he flicked some ashes away. "Your mom's a good woman. The best woman I ever met."

"They _why_ —"

"Jim, think about it," James said, dropping his half finished cigarette and crushing it under his shoe. "Your mom was on track to be the best doctor in Arcadia. I was already dragging her down, but _this_? Oh, God, Jim… how could I do that to her?"

"So, you let your daughter be sold as a sex slave instead?" Jim said in a flat voice, resisting the urge to start growling.

" _No_!" James insisted, running his hands through his hair in agitation. "I mean… you don't understand. Sh-she was a _child_ , and… Jenny had been doing this to her since before she could remember. When I came along and tried to stop it, Sarah didn't understand why. She associated it with _love_ , and she thought I was punishing her!"

"So, you just let it go?" Jim scoffed, rolling his eyes. "You let _whoever_ come in here and _rape_ her?"

"No, I…!" James started to protest, but then grimaced, looking away guiltily. "I tried…"

"You were protecting yourself and no one else," Jim said, turning sharply to glare his father down. "If you cared at all, you would have gone to the police. You're right, she was a child — a child who would've had to go through therapy, but would have been better off, in the long run."

"How?" James demanded, glaring back harshly. "By being thrown into the foster system? She could have ended up with anyone! I was using hard by then, and Jenny's family is just as rough as she is. Your mom would have had no legal right to Sarah, and it all would have _ruined_ her career! I… you had your mom, but Sarah had no one. I told Jenny… I said that I would leave Barb and marry her and take care of them, if she swore to me that she would stop using Sarah."

"Did she?" Jim asked, already knowing the answer.

"For a while," admitted James in a low voice, staring down at his feet. "Sarah pitched a royal fit. She couldn't understand why she was no longer getting _special attention_. She didn't understand that it was wrong. I didn't witness anything else until she was nine, but I guess I always knew that it was still going on. There were nights when Sarah was… too calm. Out of it. I didn't want to know too much."

Jim's fists clenched at his sides, and he whirled around to grip the opposite railing, too angry to face the man. He resisted the urge to rip the Glamour Mask from his face and bare his teeth at his father. "Do you even know what any of those people could have been carrying? What diseases she's been exposed to?"

"I told you," James's voice grumbled from behind Jim. "I don't want to know."

"She could _die_ , Dad!" Jim growled, swinging himself back around, his body trembling with rage as he marched up to his father and grabbed him by the front of the shirt. "I don't give a _fuck_ what you or that whore of a woman do, but I'm not going to let you put Sarah through this any—"

" _Get off_!" James snarled, pushing Jim back roughly. Jim was tempted to hold his ground, but knew that his disguised strength would have raised too many questions. In his human form, James Lake Senior was the taller and bulkier man of the two, so Jim let himself stumble back, releasing his hold on the older man. "What are you gonna do? She's _seventeen_! You gonna kidnap her? You know she won't leave with you. This is the only life she's ever known."

Jim scoffed, disgusted as he knew his father was right. How many times had he offered Sarah a way out? She had politely refused every time, citing excuse after excuse. "She knows that she could come to me."

"Believe me, if she took you up on the offer, I would be happy for her," James said after a moment of tense silence. "But I know my daughter… I'd like the opportunity to know my son, too."

"Subtle, Dad," Jim laughed bitterly, turning back toward the older man.

"You said you were having a bad day, too," said James, shrugging with a weak smile. "Thought we could commiserate together."

Jim tensed, glaring down at the cement step. "I don't want to talk about it."

"You and the girl having issues?" James prodded. His voice was poorly feigning nonchalance.

"Not in the way that you're thinking," Jim replied, looking up to glare at the man again. "We're just as in love as we've always been."

"Something's wrong, though," his father surmised in a thoughtful voice. "You look like you've hit the bottle one too many times."

"No, actually," Jim said, shaking his head in annoyance. "In fact, I'm pretty sure I'll never drink again."

"Ah," James breathed knowingly. "You get drunk?"

"No," Jim said again, shrugging. "I mean… not recently. It was a while ago. The resulting hangover and loss of memory wasn't worth it."

"Wow, you really hit it, didn't you?" James chuckled lightly.

"You can blame your daughter for challenging me to a drink off," replied Jim, his lip twitching into a reluctant grin. "Apparently, anyway. The details are hazy."

"Hm," James hummed, the sound amused. "Sounds like her. So… if your troubles aren't drink or drug related…?"

"Then I doubt you'd care," Jim said flippantly.

"Well, I do," the older man replied insistently. To Jim's surprise, James pushed away from his rail and slowly walked over to Jim's side, leaning against the rail beside him, their shoulders brushing together. "You may think otherwise, but I care a lot."

"Claire's… not feeling well," Jim said in a quiet tone, staring down at his feet again. "I didn't want to leave her tonight."

"I'm sorry," James said, his tone genuinely remorseful. Jim glanced up to see the concerned frown on his father's face. "How sick?"

"She, um…" Jim looked away again, his shoulders tensing. "She had surgery… to remove an ectopic pregnancy."

"Jimmy…" James breathed in shock. Jim felt the man's hand grip his shoulder, squeezing lightly. "Oh, I'm sorry, son…"

Jim shrugged, his throat tightening, but he refused to let himself break down in front of his father. Before anything more could be said by either of them, the front door was opening and Barbara stepped out, a haggard expression on her face.

"Is she all right?"

"What happened?"

"What the fuck did she get into?!"

" _James_!" Barbara reprimanded again, pointing a finger in her ex-husband's face. "What did I say about that word?!"

James scoffed and rolled his eyes, swatting her hand away lightly. "Barb, will you please—"

"She's stable," Barbara interrupted, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back against the doorframe. "In fact, contrary to what it looked like, Sarah wasn't having seizures at all."

"No, no, she was shaking," James insisted, leaning forward intensely. "And drooling!"

"Yes," Barbara agreed, nodding. "But she wasn't seizing, and I don't believe that she took anything in the last few days, either."

"Mom, she was clearly out of it," Jim said, frowning in confusion.

"Oh, she is," Barbara agreed again. "She's having withdrawal convulsions."

" _What_?" Jim and James both said at once, a matching tone of confused indignation in their voices. Barbara blinked in surprise at the sound, an unnerved look briefly crossing her face.

"I, uh…" she shook her head, apparently clearing her thoughts before continuing. "I take it that it wouldn't be unusual for her to be… _under the influence_?"

"That would be an accurate assumption," James said in a reluctant tone, nodding heavily. "She usually does Oxys or the like. She's always hated needles, so she avoids those kinds of things, unless…"

"Unless…?" Barbara prompted as James hesitated, a heavily guilt-laden look on his face.

"Sometimes… she's nervous," James mumbled, his face reddening. "So, she… she asks Jenny to give her something to… loosen her up."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," Barbara said, her tone faint with shock. "When was the last time Jenny would have given her something?"

James hesitated, glancing between his son and ex-wife in shame. "Last week. Jenny… had a party."

"A party?" Barbara repeated, her face paling. Jim's ears were starting to roar as he realized what his father wasn't saying. "And there were… a lot of people… at this party?"

"There was, uh…" James stuttered, his breath becoming short, his voice thick. "…about 12 men… when I left."

"Oh, my God," Jim said, his eyes widening. For the second time that day, he felt like he'd been punched in the gut.

" _What_ would Jenny have given her?" Barbara demanded after a moment of tense silence.

"I… I don't know," James mumbled, raising his hands to grasp at his hair. "I swear, I don't know. I hate being here when… so, I leave. I left."

"Well, you're good at that," Barbara said, rolling her eyes. "Whatever she had was a big enough dose that she is going through an _extreme_ withdrawal right now. You're lucky it didn't kill her outright. I assume she's been in a dazed state up until today?"

James nodded, tears beginning to spill over from his red-rimmed eyes. "Is she gonna be okay?"

"Honestly, James…" Barbara started, shaking her head, her expression still shocked. "This… _life_ … is going to kill her. This needs to stop, do you understand? Even if she recovers today, who says that she'll make it the next time? Or the next?"

"I don't know what to do," James whispered, a heavy sob breaking from his chest.

"She needs to go to the hospital," Barbara replied in a firm voice, and Jim was proud that she didn't waver in the face of her ex-husband's distress. "She needs to go through a medical detox… provided you don't want her to suffer for the next few days as she comes down from this?"

"No, of course not!" James said, looking up in horror. "But…"

"But nothing!" Jim said, his temper finally snapping. He resisted the urge to grab his father again, keeping himself rooted in place. "You said that you care. You can't let this be her life, Dad!"

"I…" James sobbed, covering his face with his hands. "She's all I have."

"Then let her _go_ , James," Barbara said, reaching out with a shaky hand to gently grasp her ex-husband's hand, pulling it away from his tear stained face. "Let her go."

There was a moment of tense, surreal silence as the two former lovers stared at each other, and Jim looked away, his heart aching at the residual affection on their faces. When he looked up again, James had released Barbara's hand and was nodding in defeat.

"Okay."

"Thank you," Barbara breathed, and then she turned away and disappeared back into the house. James fell back against the doorframe and slid down to his butt, burying his face into his knees as he sobbed.

"Dad…" Jim started, unsure of how to proceed. He was furious with his father, but the man was clearly heartbroken. "You're doing the right thing."

James nodded, and Jim heard him snort. "Finally, right?" James looked up, his face wet, red, and blotchy. "You'll look after her? Let me know how she is? I… I gotta find Jenny."

Jim felt a twinge of annoyance, but he sighed, kneeling down by his father's side. "Give me your phone."

James sniffled and wiped his eyes with the back of his arm, and then reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, handing it to Jim. "Here."

Jim took the phone and tapped it awake, and then froze in shock as the background came into view. It was a picture of a couple of other pictures — one of a toddler Jim, the photo creased and wrinkled, like it had seen too many years being handled repeatedly. The other was of Sarah, looking around 12 or 13 years old, smiling at the camera as she swung on a swing set, her long, black hair flying out behind her. She looked genuinely happy in the picture, the photo capturing her in a moment where she was given the opportunity to be the child that she should have been. Jim's throat tightened in emotion, but he only paused for a moment to take in the image before he brought up the contact list.

"This is my phone number," Jim said as he programmed his name and number into his father's phone. Given his recent military debacle, he chose not to add his photo or last name (not that the latter mattered too much), simply assigning the name 'Jimmy.' James would know who he was, and that was all that mattered. "Call me when you find her, and we'll decide where to go from there."

"You want me to report her?" James asked, though the sound was deadpan, like he already knew the answer.

"I think that would be a good idea," Jim said, letting a slight tone of annoyance slip through in his voice. "Look… you can't let her get away with this. Sarah could have died."

"But I let it happen," James replied, burying his face back into his knees. "I just let it happen."

"Dad…" Jim hesitated, and then leaned forward and wrapped his arms around his father, hugging him tightly. For just a moment, Jim was 5 years old again, hugging his daddy, the man's scent so familiar, the feel of his beard tickling his cheek. "You have to do the right thing."

James froze in his son's arms, and then relaxed, slowly unwinding his body and wrapping his own arms around Jim, hugging him tightly. "When did my little boy grow up to be such an amazing man?"

"Sooner than I would have liked," Jim scoffed lightly, leaning back from the older man after a moment. He smiled weakly, chewing his lip nervously. "I'll tell you about it sometime."

"Might have to visit me in prison, though," James chuckled darkly, his eyes sparkling as he roved them over Jim's face, almost hungrily. "But I'd like to hear about you."

"Promise," Jim whispered, grinning a little as he squeezed the man's shoulder fondly.

. . .

"Jim, why don't you head home? The sun will be up soon, and I'm sure Claire needs you more, right now."

Jim looked up at the sound of Strickler's voice, blinking tiredly. "Is Sarah still out?"

"Yeah," Strickler said, taking the seat next to Jim. The waiting room was empty, the buzzing of a soda and snack dispenser the only other sound in the room. "The doctors gave her something to help ease the come down, but it'll be a day or two before she's really aware. Mom's keeping an eye on her."

Jim nodded, his head heavy. His face itched horribly from wearing the Glamour Mask for so long, and he did miss his family, but he felt guilty for leaving his sister here, with no one she knew. "Will you call me when she wakes up?"

"Of course," Strickler said, giving Jim a loose, one-armed hug. "Have you heard from your father?"

Jim shook his head, frowning. "Not yet. He did say that he didn't know where she was, so he might not have found her yet."

"Call us when you hear from him," Strickler advised, lifting his arm and ruffling Jim's hair playfully. "Hm… I miss the horns."

Jim laughed, rolling his eyes. "Me too. This mask is killing me."

"Go home," Strickler said, chuckling. "Get cleaned up and rest."

Jim nodded, standing and stretching. "Have you got your charm?"

"Yes," the older troll replied, his human face smiling back reassuringly. "Go on, Jim."

"All right, all right," Jim chuckled, yawning as he stretched again.

Without another word, he walked across the room and slipped into the single bathroom, closing the door behind him, but not locking it. A few minutes later, Jim was breathing a sigh of relief as the magical light of his Transportation Charm cleared, and he found himself back in his own bedroom.

"Mm… Jim?"

Jim turned around, taking his mask off at the same time. More relief flooded through him as he grew taller and broader, and he smiled as his eyes landed on his mate. She was sitting up in the middle of their bed, watching over their baby as the little one crawled over the blankets and her mother's lap.

"Hi," Jim greeted, throwing the mask on top of Claire's dresser and walking over to his family. Ellie sat up and looked in his direction at the sound of his voice, smiling excitedly. "Good morning, Miss Ellie."

"Da!" Jim and Claire both froze and stared at the baby in surprise. Ellie squealed happily, and pointed a small, chubby hand toward Jim. "Da!"

"That's right!" Jim laughed after a moment, the sound giddy. Rushing forward, he scooped the baby up into his arms, pressing a series of kisses to her laughing face. "That's right! I'm Daddy! Claire, did you hear? She said my name!"

Claire laughed, standing to her feet on top of the bed, so that she was standing only slightly taller than Jim. Wrapping her arms around them, she kissed Ellie's cheek, and then turned and gave an affectionate lick to the underside of Jim's chin. "I heard. Lucky."

"Ellie, you should say _Mama_ now," Jim encouraged, nuzzling the baby's hair affectionately. "See? That's _Mama_ there."

"Da!"

They laughed, hugging each other lightly, and Jim tilted his head to catch Claire's lips in his own. "Did you get some rest?"

"Yeah," Claire said, leaning back from him a little and nodding. "How's Sarah?"

"Still out," Jim said, frowning slightly. "She won't be fully out of it for a couple of days, they think."

"But the hospital is the best place she can be, right now," Claire said in a wise voice, brushing her hands soothingly through Jim's hair and scruff.

"I know," he replied, nodding as his eyes drifted closed when his mate gently rubbed the base of his horns. A light purr built up in his chest as her ministrations caused him to relax. "God, I'm tired."

"Then come to bed," Claire cooed sweetly, nuzzling her face into his neck. Ellie copied her mother and nuzzled into Jim's chest, causing them both to laugh again. "Mom, Dad, and Enrique went back to Arcadia; they didn't want to be gone too long, to avoid further suspicion. Aja and Krel are hanging down in the Market, and the others went into town about an hour ago to hunt down a Waffle House."

"What?" Jim laughed, letting Claire out of his arms only long enough to put Ellie down on the bed and take off his shirt and cargos. When he was comfortable in his boxers, he laid down in the bed, pulling his wife down with him. "They don't like troll food?"

"Not everyone is as open minded as Toby," Claire giggled, and then cringed as Ellie tried to crawl over her mother's side. Claire's breath caught and she clenched her eyes shut in pain.

"What's the healing spell?" Jim asked softly, gently scooping up the baby and pulling her up on top of his own side instead, bracing her with his arm so she wouldn't fall.

"Oh, no, I'm fine," Claire said dismissively, relaxing as the pain eased and reached over to tickle one of Ellie's feet. The baby squealed and laughed loudly.

"Claire," Jim sighed, pressing a soft kiss to his mate's forehead. "Why are you punishing yourself?"

"I'm not—" she started to argue, but then stopped herself as a wave of grief washed through her. "I just…"

"It's not your fault," Jim whispered, his heart twisting with both of their pain. "Sometimes… things just go wrong."

"I keep telling myself that," Claire replied in a thick voice. "But… I had a choice…"

"No, you didn't," Jim insisted, shaking his head lightly. "There is _no_ choice in a situation like that. The baby was never viable, and you would have died."

"You don't…!" Claire pushed back, frustrated and angry. She sucked in a thick breath, the sound of a sob building in her chest. "You don't understand."

"Claire—"

"I wanted to see him."

Jim froze, a fist of ice clenching around his stomach. "See him?"

"I mean…" Claire whimpered, leaning forward again to tuck her head under his chin. "In my head, he was a boy."

"Honey…" Jim breathed, nuzzling his face into his wife's hair, his free hand catching Ellie by the back of her onesie as she tried to crawl back on top of her mother. The baby whined a little, but sat back and continued to climb over him, instead.

"They wouldn't _let_ me!" Claire said angrily, pushing back again. Her face was red and tear stained, her nose running a little. "They wouldn't even let me bring him _home_! They called him _biological waste_! He was my _baby_! So, I…" Claire sucked in another shaky breath, her eyes fixed on the large scar over Jim's heart. "I used my magic to summon him to me."

Jim's heart was pounding in his chest, his mind racing with this information. "Oh, Claire…"

"He was perfect!" Claire sobbed, throwing herself back into his chest. The dam broke, and her whole body heaved with the force of her cries, and then convulsed as the movements caused her pain. "There was nothing wrong with him! There was nothing…"

Ellie let out a distressed whine, trying to crawl back over to her mother when she saw her so upset. "Ma!" Jim hugged the baby, pulling her up his body so that she could snuggle down between her parents. Ellie patted her mother's face gently, purring as she leaned forward to press an open-mouthed baby kiss to Claire's cheek. "Mama."

"Hi, baby," Claire sniffled, smiling weakly at her daughter, calming as the baby nuzzled her sweetly. "You're going to be speaking in full sentences soon, aren't you?"

"Where is he, mi amor?" Jim asked, rubbing Ellie's back softly while nuzzling his nose and lips into his mate's hair.

"No, he…!" Claire started, and Jim was surprised to feel an unexpected panic take her over. She looked up at him, her eyes wide. "Don't take him."

"Baby, we can't…" Jim started, clenching his eyes shut as the tears spilled over once again, his throat constricting. "I understand. I _do_ … but I can't let you torture yourself like this. It was _not_ your fault."

"I feel like it is," Claire admitted after a moment of silence, her voice weak and shaky. "I feel like I've killed my own child."

" _No_ ," Jim insisted, pressing increasingly desperate kisses to her face and lips. "He would have died, anyway, and you would have died with him. And we're going to make more babies. Lots of 'em. Right now, if you want."

Claire laughed, like Jim hoped that she would, and she tilted her head up to catch his lips in a deep kiss, which was rudely interrupted by Ellie pushing herself between them. They both laughed again, each of them pressing a kiss to the baby's cheeks. "Maybe not _right_ now."

Jim chuckled, their tongues brushing together lightly. "What—?" Across the room, Jim's phone started ringing from his discarded cargos, and he sighed. "I just want a nap."

"Might be about Sarah," Claire said, still sniffling a little. Her grief wasn't forgotten — nor was his — but she seemed to be calming down. "Go on."

Jim rolled his eyes, but reluctantly pulled away, chuckling when Ellie whined and called his name again. "Yes, baby. Daddy will be right back."

"Daaaa…!"

"Hush, Miss Ellie," Claire cooed sweetly as Jim dug his phone out of his pants. The chorus of the generic ringtone was looping back on itself for the second tome when he finally found it and pressed it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Jimmy."

"Oh, Dad…" Jim sighed, surprised to find himself relieved to hear the man's voice, though there was something off about it. His father's voice was thick, with a slightly nervous shake in it. "Did you find her?"

"Yeah," James croaked, his voice hoarse. "Everything's okay."

"Did you go to the police?"

"No," replied James, and Jim frowned at the defeat in his voice.

"I'll go with you, if that will make you more comfortable," Jim offered, though he really didn't want to leave his family again so soon. "I know this is hard for y—"

"No, I…" James interrupted. "That's not necessary."

Jim felt a surge of anger course through him as a thought occurred to him. "Don't tell me you're going to run away?!"

"No," James laughed, the sound dark. "No more running away."

"Dad?"

"I don't…" James went on, his voice faint and barely a whisper. "I don't think we're going to get to have that talk."

"Dad, what are you—"

"I love you, Jimmy," James interrupted again, his voice rising to speak over Jim's questions. "I love you and Sarah. I just… want you to know that."

"Dad… don't," Jim gasped, his mind and heart racing as he recognized the flat, defeated tone in the man's voice. "Whatever you're thinking… don't. It won't make things better."

"Promise me that you'll look after Sarah."

" _No_!" Jim protested, his voice high and desperate. Behind him, Ellie was fussing while Claire tried to calm her, calling Jim's name in concern.

"I'm sorry, Jimmy," James sobbed on the other end of the line. "I'm… so sorry for everything. Tell Mom that I love her, okay?"

"Dad—!" Jim started, and then gasped and jumped as a loud cracking sound echoed through the phone, followed by a strange squelching sound and a rough clatter… and then all was silent. "Dad? _Dad_? Dad, _answer the damn phone_!"

Nothing.

Jim felt the phone slip from his numb fingers and hit the stone floor, the glass on the front shattering. For a moment, there was nothing but silence, and then Claire's voice — distant and echoing, as if through water — was calling out to him. A second later, she was kneeling in front of him, throwing her arms around his shoulders to keep him from completely hitting the floor. Somehow, he had fallen to his knees already, though he didn't recall how.

"Mi amor? Jim? Jim, look at me!" Claire's face was swimming in front of his eyes, and Jim felt himself heaving a second before he turned his head to the side and puked all over the floor.

"No, no, no, _no_ …" Jim gasped as he heaved again, leaning forward to brace himself on his hands and knees. "Oh, no, no, no…"

Jim felt his head becoming light, his body becoming heavy, and then darkness overcame him.

 _To be continued..._

✧ ✩ _**PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!**_ ✩ ✧


	32. Chapter Thirty-Two

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter | Paced Publishing_

➳ _I apologize for the long wait. Enjoy, my loves!_

 **Chapter Thirty-Two**

"How is he?"

"How do you think he is?"

"Well, that's why I'm askin'."

"His father murdered his step-mother, and then committed suicide while he was on the phone with Jim. I don't know about you, Steve, but I would be pretty fucked up, if I were him."

"Toby, keep your voice down!"

"What? He's asleep, isn't he?"

"No, I'm not," Jim said in a hoarse and tired voice as he pushed back the curtain separating the bedroom from the living room and stepped through.

His cave was crowded again, though with a lot less people than before. Steve, Toby, Eli, Mary, and Darci were huddled together in a tight circle, looking up in nervous shock when Jim spoke. Aja and Krel were there too, though standing slightly off to the side, in their human forms, but they were speaking with a woman Jim had never seen before. She looked up as well when he spoke, and he nearly attacked out of shock alone, but then Claire was in front of him, lifting her hands to cradle his face and redirect his attention.

"That's Zadra," she said, perfectly reading his sense of recognition and resulting panic. "Merlin made them Glamour Charms, so they could hide their real appearances."

"But she looks like…"

"Your Merlin had the same shocked reaction," the woman who was supposed to be Zadra grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest angrily. "Does this form resemble someone you know?"

"Yes," Jim replied in a flat whisper, closing his eyes tiredly and leaning forward to press his forehead to his mate's. She made a soft sound in the back of her throat, nuzzling him back sweetly.

Zadra's human form was tall and thin, her hair long, and a golden blonde color. That alone wouldn't have tripped him up, but her face… her face was long, with a pointed, slightly rounded chin. She had a small mouth with plump, pouty lips, and her eyes… it was her wide, green eyes that had drawn Jim short. He had never seen Morgana's full face, but from what little of it he _had_ seen, Zadra was the spitting image of the witch.

"It's been a rough couple of weeks, huh?" Claire whispered in an as equally tired voice. Jim chuckled darkly and nodded, his throat too tight to speak.

"Has anyone gone to the Elders yet?" Jim asked, taking a deep breath to compose himself, and then leaning back to glance over at a suddenly very guilty looking Eli.

"I…" Eli whimpered, staring down at his feet. "I talked with Blinky. He's… talking to the other Elders. He said that… that… my memories might have to be erased… of everything."

"That's kind of harsh, isn't it?" Steve worried, looking desperately at Jim. "I mean… he made a mistake, but…"

"I'll talk to them," Jim said reassuringly as he leaned back from his mate. "That's a fairly light sentence, actually, but I think I can convince them that Eli is more use to us with his memories intact."

"More use…?" Eli questioned, cocking his head to the side curiously. "How could I—"

"You know more about military conspiracy theories than anyone I know," Jim explained, shrugging slightly. "From what we've just gone through, I think there's more truth to those conspiracies than they'd like us to realize. That's useful."

"Yeah…" Eli said, not sounding convinced. "I guess."

"I'll go and talk to them now," Jim offered, moving away from Claire and heading for the door.

"Jim…" Claire caught his hand, and though she wasn't strong enough to actually stop him without the use of her magic, he stopped moving for her. "I'm coming with you."

Jim nodded, although he didn't really feel like having company at the moment. He waited as Claire let go of his hand and disappeared back into their bedroom for a minute. When she emerged, Jim was a little surprised to find that she had her bathing bag slung over her shoulder. From the scent coming from it, he realized that she had packed clothes for him as well.

"Ellie is still asleep," Claire said to Darci while taking Jim's hand in hers again. "We won't be long."

"Don't worry," Darci replied with a soft, reassuring smile. "She'll be fine. Take your time."

"I should go to Blinky," Jim protested in a weak and soft voice as his wife silently led him from their cave, taking the turn at the end of the path that led toward the hot spring that was their bathing area, instead of the one that would take them toward the market center.

"He can wait," Claire replied in a calm voice.

"But—"

"He can wait."

Jim fell silent, letting Claire pull him along behind her. The silence didn't really have time to grow awkward, as the bathing area wasn't that far out. Add in the fact that they could feel each other's emotions (or, rather, Jim's _lack_ of emotions), and there was nothing to really dwell over too deeply — not that he particularly wanted to. Jim wasn't sure how much time had passed since he'd gotten back from the hospital and… spoken with his father. He remembered the phone call, the realization of what was happening, passing out… but after that, things got hazy. He recalled waking up once to find himself back in his bed, alone, but he had heard the voice of his mate and friends from the other room. The tones in their voices had been distressed and slightly panicked, but his head felt so heavy, and he was so tired, that he could only bring himself to turn back over and fall back asleep.

"Jim?"

"Hm?" Jim hummed, glancing up at the sound of his mate's voice breaking into his thoughts. Blinking slowly, he realized that they had come to a stop by the hot spring pool, and Claire had let go of his hand to take her clothes off. She already had her shirt and bra off, and he had just been staring at her feet, lost in thought. "Sorry. I…"

"Läka," Claire said after a moment of silence, taking his hand in hers again and guiding it to her side. She pressed his palm over her healing incision, and he frowned as he noted the unnatural heat beneath the stitching, as well as the slight swelling.

"It's infected," Jim realized aloud, ashamed that he'd been so distracted that he hadn't scented it before. Granted, the scent of infection was minuscule, so it probably wasn't too bad yet.

Claire nodded, tilting her head to catch his eyes with hers, a small, sad smile on her lips. "Will you heal it for me?"

"Of course," Jim replied immediately, pushing his other thoughts away and concentrating on his wife. "That word you said… that's the spell?"

"Mmhm," Claire hummed affirmatively, squeezing his had lightly as she repeated the incantation for him again. "Läka."

Jim nodded and closed his eyes, concentrating on pooling his magic into his palm. He felt a corresponding heat come from the Amulet in his pocket as Ywain added some of his own magic to help. He was grateful for that, because he still felt incredibly weak and disoriented after all that had happened these past few weeks. " _Läka_."

The magic flowed like warm water through his hand and into Claire's body, and he felt her relax against him as her body healed itself, no doubt relieving the pain that she must have been in. Jim felt a pang of guilt that he hadn't noticed her stress right away; in the sudden absence of it, he realized that she had been bearing through it all for his sake.

"It's okay," she murmured, leaning forward to rest her forehead against his clothed chest, her shoulders loosening as she relaxed. "I'm okay."

"I'm sorry," Jim apologized anyway, his throat tightening. At the same time, there was a part of him that just felt empty, and he didn't know what to do with that. In the past two weeks (or maybe three; he had no concept of time, anymore), he had been kidnapped, tortured, experimented on, lost a child that he hadn't even realized was in existence, been informed that one of his best friends had inadvertently exposed all of the mythical and alien worlds to, well, _the world_ , told his sister had more or less overdosed because her own mother had drugged her into submission for a gang bang, and his father…

Jim yanked his hand back from his mate as soon as he felt the magic settle in and dissipate, suddenly feeling dirty — like he was somehow contaminating his perfect wife by touching her. Claire leaned back slightly to look up at him, her eyes wide and concerned, but he shook his head, stumbling back even as she reached out for him. "Jim—"

"I'm…" Jim started, trying to explain himself, but having no words. It was like he was feeling everything and nothing all at once, and it was confusing, and painful, and he just wanted to close his eyes and go back to sleep for a few more hours, or days, or _years_. "I can't…"

"Hey," Claire said in a soft, cooing voice. She stepped forward after him and reached up to cup his face in her hands. "I'm here, okay? If you want to talk, or you don't want to talk, or whatever… I'm here for you."

"There's nothing to talk about," Jim grunted, gently taking Claire's hands in his and squeezing them lightly as he pulled them down from his cheeks. "I'm fine, really. Just a little tired still."

Claire frowned. "Jim… I… I'm not going to make you talk, but… please don't bottle everything up and pretend nothing is happening, okay?"

Jim felt a spark of anger at the unsaid accusation, but shook his head, his false smile forced into place. "I'm not bottling anything up." Claire eyed him warily for a moment before nodding slowly. He knew that she could feel the truth behind his words, their Soul Bond giving her access to his emotions, but he could feel her worry and concern only grow stronger. In an attempt to distract her, he started undressing, pulling his shirt off with a playful flourish. "Well, c'mon, Mrs. Lake! I thought we were gonna take a bath?"

Claire shook her head, smiling in slight amusement, but Jim couldn't ignore the wet sheen in her eyes, or the way the feeling of rejection suddenly started creeping up in her. He glanced away guiltily, but as he did so, his eyes caught the movement of her hands as she pushed her pants and underwear down her thin legs to discard into their growing pile of dirty clothes, and he felt a sudden and intense desire for her rush through him. He'd already taken a step in her direction before he'd even realize what he'd done. Claire, having felt his reaction through their bond, stumbled at the intensity of it, and looked up at him in shock.

Jim froze at the look, his own hands now fiddling with the button and zipper of his cargos, and another spark of anger hit him. What was her problem? Why was she looking at him like he'd just suggested that they rob a bank? So, he wanted her. He always wanted her. What was the big deal? What? He wasn't allowed to desire his wife just because he had just gone through some traumatic shit? And what did she know, anyway? It's not like he cared about what had happened. He didn't care at all. Well, no, he cared about her; wasn't that good enough? So, _why_ , then, was she giving him such a goddamned scandalized look for?! And she had _just_ been feeling all rejected and everything because he didn't want to talk about feelings that he didn't have in the first place, so she should be _happy_ that he wanted her, shouldn't she?!

"Jim…" Claire finally broke the silence, her voice small and nervous. She seemed to debate with herself for a moment, and then she turned and kneeled down on the towels that she had laid out that he hadn't noticed before. She fell to her hands, and his whole body shivered in anticipation as he recognized her positioning. Still, he could feel her hesitant nervousness, even as she spoke again. "It's okay."

He wanted to say something, _anything_ , but it was like his troll half — his _animal_ half — had taken over completely. His clothes were completely gone in the next second, and the second after that, he was mounted on top of his mate, pounding his body harshly into hers. Distantly, he heard the pained yelp she'd let out at his intrusion, but he ignored it, grasping the back if her neck in his teeth, his bite stronger than it should have been. Jim tasted the slightest hint of blood in his mouth, but instead of shocking him into submission, like it should have, it only excited him more. His body was moving out of his control, wild and rough, totally uncaring of the fragile human woman who was the brunt of his aggressions. One, two, three, four orgasms he pushed himself through in possibly just the same amount of minutes, and still he continued to pound away, even as he heard himself growling and snarling around the flesh in his mouth. He could feel Claire's fear beneath her arousal, which was only slight enough to tell him that _she_ wasn't having fun; rather, her body was reacting to his via their bond, which was likely why he was able to push himself like this. Normally, their shared passion and pleasure would have exhausted them at this rate, but he was not feeling her reciprocating emotions as he normally did. The realization made him angry, and that — finally — was what snapped him out of it.

"Gah!" Jim gasped, throwing himself away from Claire, both of their bodies trembling desperately. Claire collapsed to her side on the spread towels, panting and gasping for breath. Nausea rolled through his stomach as he saw the red blood streaking down her back, and the way that his seed was tinged pink as it seeped down the inside of his mate's thighs. Horrified at what he'd done, Jim clapped his hands to his mouth to fight off the urge to vomit or sob… he wasn't sure which. "Claire… I…"

"I'm… okay," Claire panted back, but Jim didn't miss the wince she made as she attempted to move, ultimately giving up and lying still. Holding her arms out toward him, she beckoned him to come lie down with her. "Come here."

"No, I…!" Jim protested, shaking his head as the anger built up in him. "I _hurt_ you."

"I'll be okay," Claire assured him with a gentle smile, curling her fingers in a 'come hither' gesture. "I told you that I was here for you. You needed to vent, and if you don't want to talk—"

"I told you there was nothing to talk about!" Jim snapped, springing to his feet to begin pacing anxiously. "I don't care, okay? Why should I? He never cared about me! He's just some stupid guy who happened to share my DNA, remember? So, what does it matter? Who cares what he does, right? He's an asshole! So, now I'm supposed to care about him when he _never_ gave a _shit_ about me or mom or you or Ellie or _anyone_! Well, fuck that! _Fuck him_!" Jim shouted the last part, fury swirling in his chest and stomach as he listened to the words echo back at him. He barely noticed that he was now tugging on both of his horns in anxiety, tears cascading down his face. "I don't fucking care, okay? I'm _glad_ that he's… that he's…" he couldn't bring himself to say it.

"You don't mean that," Claire stated in a soft and understanding voice. Jim watched as she sat up, wincing slightly with the movement, and held her arms out to him again. "I know you're hurting. Come here, mi amor."

Jim hesitated, still wracked with guilt over Claire's physical state, but nodded slowly and went to her side. Seating himself next to her, he looked down, unable to meet her gaze. "I'm so sorry."

"Come here," Claire repeated softly, and Jim looked up in surprise as he felt his mate move again, sitting up on her knees. She wrapped her arms around his head, her fingers brushing gently through his scruff as she urged his head forward, letting his lips brush against a milk tipped nipple. Unconsciously, Jim lapped at the liquid, cleaning it away, but he was surprised when Claire pressed her chest upward, one hand leaving the back of his neck to go to her own breast. He watched in fascination as she gently pressed down on an area close to her nipple and another bead of milk welled up. "It's okay. I want you to."

Jim glanced up at his mate in astonishment, his emotions still all over the place, and his brain scrambled. Too emotional, tired, and drained to think straight, he decided to stop thinking altogether for a while, and latched onto the offered breast gratefully. The milk was warm and sweet as it filled his mouth, and he could scent the calming pheromones that his mate was releasing as he nursed from her. After he'd fallen into an easy rhythm, Claire gently guided their bodies to lie down on the towels, softly stroking her fingers through his hair and scruff the whole time. Slowly, he relaxed, his tense muscles melting as he cuddled into his mate's warm and welcoming body. He continued to suckle gently long after the milk was gone, but Claire just held him, running her hands soothingly through his hair and murmuring sweet nothings and reassuring promises to him.

"I'm so sorry," Jim whispered quietly when he finally felt calm enough to act like a sane person. "I just…"

"I know," Claire murmured back, nuzzling her face into the space between his horns. "I know."

And she did, he realized. Even without the magic of their Soul Bond, she would have known how he felt because no one else knew him as well as his wife. And he wasn't okay — he was grief stricken, angry, confused, guilty… and he had no idea how to deal with any of it.

"Let me heal your injuries," Jim said, slowly pulling away from the warmth of his beloved's embrace and sitting up. Claire nodded, closing her eyes tiredly as Jim let the magic pool in his hands. Gently ghosting his palms over her body, he murmured the healing incantation again and watched in guilt as the punctures on the back of her neck slowly healed over, leaving the skin stained with red blood, but clear and smooth. Not being able to see the injuries that he'd left inside of her by his aggressive penetration, he let his hands hover over her lower stomach and hips long enough that he became dizzy as his magic was quickly depleted.

"I'm okay, Jim," Claire said, attempting to sit up and push his hands away. He let her, his head spinning as he sat back on his knees, his shoulders slumping tiredly. He dropped his head to his chest, trembling as his breath came in hard gasps.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" Jim asked, leaning into her hand weakly as she cupped his cheek. He opened his eyes to see her smiling reassuringly at him as she shook her head.

"Will you wash my hair?" Claire asked, shuffling to her feet. She playfully grabbed one of his horns and started tugging him in the direction of the hot spring.

Jim laughed a little, the tightness in his throat and chest easing a bit. "You… still want me to…?"

"Of course. I love you."

Jim sighed and stood to his feet, grasping his mate's hand in his own and pulling her into the hit water with him. It was a lot like a large pit filled with natural hot water, surrounded by several other similar pits in the area. He'd carved steps and a seat into the surrounding rock to support any bathers, as the pool was far too deep to stand in. Jim had tried to touch the bottom a few times, but the deeper he dove, the hotter the water became. He guessed that he had gone as far as 20 or so feet down before he'd been unable to stand the heat and had turned away, and he had yet to touch or even see the bottom. Settling down with his mate on the lowest step before the drop off, Jim turned Claire into his arms and cradled her the way he would cradle his infant daughter, tilting her head back so that her long, black hair fanned out in the water below her.

"I'm sorry," Jim whispered again, running his hand through her wet locks lovingly. "I love you more than anyone in the world."

"Don't let Ellie hear you say that," Claire laughed lightly, settling into his arms and smiling up at him. She raised her hand to caress his face and pressed soft kisses to her passing fingers.

"You and our daughter, then," Jim chuckled, leaning down to catch her lips in his. "I really am sorry."

"I know," Claire replied, smiling against his lips. "You can talk to me, you know."

Jim nodded, squeezing his eyes shut as they began to tear again. "I just… I don't understand why I feel like this. I _shouldn't_ care, but…"

"Of course you should care," Claire said, nuzzling into his chest. "He was your dad."

A sob built in his chest that he could barely hold back. "But he _wasn't_. Not really. He was never there. He put my mom through hell. He let Sarah go through all that shit, and he… _Blinky_ is the one I would call my dad. Not him. Never him. So, _why_ do I…?"

"Because that's who you are," she said. "You care about everyone. I would never change that about you. I don't think anyone would."

" _I_ would," Jim replied, shaking his head. "I hate feeling like this. I hated him… for so long. Why do I have to care _now_?"

"You haven't exactly had the most stress free few weeks," Claire laughed weakly. She sat up in his arms and reached over to grab the bottle of shampoo resting against the rocks beside the pool. "This, on top of everything… I don't blame you for feeling angry or sad or confused. Those are all valid feelings. Remember?" She handed him the bottle of shampoo, her own guilt and grief welling up in her, her eyes fixed on his chest. "You told me not to blame myself. Well, you shouldn't blame yourself, either. For _anything_."

Jim nodded, his throat tightening again. He took the shampoo bottle from her and tipped some of the gel into his palm before returning the bottle to the ground. Claire turned in his lap, her back against his chest, and he ran his fingers through her hair again, lathering up the suds as her rubbed her scalp. "I guess, just because we shouldn't, doesn't mean that we won't."

"He's…" Claire leaned back, tilting her head back against his shoulder, forcing his hands from her head. He dragged his soapy fingers gently down her neck and chest, disappearing beneath the water. "He's in my jewelry box. On my dresser. I couldn't…"

"The baby?" Jim asked in a quiet undertone, though he knew she could be referring to no one else. Claire nodded, pushing herself back into his embrace. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. "What do you want me to do?"

"I…" Claire whispered, laying her head to the side. "He was more troll… he turned to stone."

Jim felt his heart clench in his chest and pressed another kiss to Claire's soapy cheek. He opened his mouth to say something, but found that he couldn't get his voice to work past the lump in his throat. Instead, he held his mate closer, burying his face into her neck. He wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, but when they finally left the bath, clean and all cried out, even _his_ skin was a little pruny.

"Ah, there you are!"

Jim and Claire looked up in surprise as the unexpected presence of a certain trouble making wizard met them halfway down the path that lead into New Trollmarket. Merlin stood before them, panting slightly from having walked uphill along the path, his staff clutched in his right hand, while he grasped something small and hidden in his left hand.

"I think you're getting old, Merlin," Jim chuckled a little, tightening his grip on his wife's hand. She leaned into his side, laughing lightly.

"Hah!" the wizard barked a short laugh, shrugging as he smirked at the pair. "You don't become old until you've hit at least five thousand, my boy. Anyway…" Merlin went on, holding out his left hand to Jim. "I made this for you."

"Um…" Jim took the offered object hesitantly, surprised to find a bracelet of some sort dropped into his hand. It was pulsing with a subtle magic, different small gems strung along a strong, thin string. There was Heartstone, but also gems that he didn't recognize as well as a few that looked a little familiar. "Gee, Merlin… thank you?"

"It's a Glamour Charm," Merlin said, rolling his eyes. "Like your Glamour Mask, but a bit different. Making the other charms for your alien friends inspired me."

"Really?" Jim asked, looking over the bracelet closely before letting go of Claire's hand to slip the bracelet onto his wrist. To his surprise, nothing happened. "Uh…"

"I told you that it was different," Merlin chuckled. "It's activated by an incantation, so that you can wear it all the time. It's also linked to _you_ , specifically, rather than the general magic of the Glamour Mask. In a way, it will… make you more like a Changeling."

"What?" Jim breathed, looking up from the subtle glow of the gems on the bracelet to stare at Merlin in shock.

"Yes, well," Merlin shrugged, an awkwardly proud grin twitching at one corner of his mouth. "It took a fair bit of blood magic and some scavenging through Blinky's trinkets, but there you go. It will change you into your human form on command, and it will make you look the age that you are in equivalency. No more perpetual teenagerdom…" Merlin shrugged a little. "…though, keep in mind, trolls do age at a snail's pace compared to a human. You might be in your hundreds and still only appear to be in your late teens or early twenties as a human. And, uh…" to Jim's amusement, Merlin started to blush and stutter, glancing away from the pair. "…do keep in mind that, while you will be physically human, your DNA will remain the same. Any… little ones… produced while in your human form will still be a quarter troll, appearing as little Eleanor does."

"Thank you, Merlin," Jim said, a little shocked that the old man would be so nice.

"Also, to note," Merlin said, reaching out to grasp Jim's wrist, tapping on one of the familiar looking gems. "If I recall Blinky's ramblings correctly, _this_ is the stone that allows the Trollhunter to walk in daylight unharmed. I've modified it so that you need not be in your armor to use its ability. As long as you are wearing the bracelet, you will be safe in either troll or human form."

Jim's breath caught as looked up at the wizard with wide eyes, his heart beginning to pound. "I can… go out into the sun?"

Merlin's smirk softened into a sad smile as he nodded. "Indeed."

"That's surprisingly nice of you, Merlin," Claire said, her voice slightly amused, but also grateful.

"Hm," Marlin frowned, eyeing the two of them warily. "Why do you two always say that, like I'm missing some great jo—"

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind rushed passed them, nearly sucking the breath from Jim's lungs. Merlin stumbled forward while Claire clutched Jim's arm tightly. For a moment, all was still, and then they were all lifted off of their feet and tossed into the air.

"What the hell—!" Merlin shouted, tumbling head over heels through the air. The air around them sparked with magic, the wind whipping around them in electric green arcs. Still clinging to Jim, Claire screamed in fright as they seemed to be sucked higher and higher.

"What _now_?!" Jim growled, something about the magic around them achingly familiar. "I swear to Deya, Merlin, if we get thrown back in time _again_ —"

"I would like to remind you," Merlin shouted back, clutching his staff desperately. "…that I had no hand in your time traveling escapade the first time."

"This is _Time magic_?!" Claire exclaimed, her voice high pitched and screechy. Jim could feel her panic escalate as she tried to push away from him and sort of swim back down through the air. "No! I have to get back to my baby!"

"Claire, don't let go!" Jim gasped, grabbing for her hand again. The second he grabbed it, the unnatural wind that was sucking them upward vanished, and they all came crashing back down to the hard ground. Jim felt the protective magic in his and Claire's wedding bands spark to life, but they still hit the ground hard enough for him to see stars. "Ugh…"

"Did it work?!"

"Is it them?"

"They look different… she looks so young."

"You idiot! You went too far back!"

"It's not an exact science, Aiden!"

"No yell! I scared!"

"They won't even know who any of us are!"

"How can they help, if they don't even know the enemy yet?"

"We're all going to die because _you_ can't control your stupid magic, El!"

"Shut up!" Jim growled, sitting up on his knees and clutching his aching head in his hands. "Stop shouting."

The voices fell silent immediately, and Jim shook his head, wrenching his eyes open. His heart seized in his chest as he took in his surroundings, and he fell back on his butt, scooting back as if he could escape from the environment around him. It was dark, but it was clear that they were outside, the air thick with residual magic. The ground below him was hard and gray, no evidence of plant life, save for the gray and brittle trunks of a few dying trees off to the left. For a moment, Jim could have sworn that they were in the Darklands, but then he saw buildings, clear human settlements and shops all around them, except…

"It's okay," a female voice said from Jim's right, a gentle hand gripping his shoulder. A familiar cinnamon scent washed over him, briefly covering up the overpowering scent of decay rising up from the very earth beneath him. Turning toward the voice, Jim's breath caught again as he was met with the concerned, blue-eyed gaze of a teenaged girl. Scooting back further in shock, his breath came out in short, hard pants as he took in her almost human appearance. She was crouching by his side, in the same manner that he fell into when he was hunting or at enough ease to fall back into his animalistic instincts. She was wearing warn jeans that clung to her legs, like they were a size too small, the edges riding high and frayed above her ankles. She was balancing her weight on the balls of her bare feet, the skin callused and gray. There was chipped, pink nail polish on a few of her toenails, like she had once had a cute pedicure, but it was long gone now. Letting his gaze travel upward, he was stunned to find the girl wearing a duller and more warn version of his wife's favorite Hamlet t-shirt.

But it was the familiarity of her face that caught Jim's shocked attention, as well as his panic. "Ellie?"

The girl blinked, clearly not expecting his recognition, and she cocked her head to the side curiously, her long black and white hair falling to the side around the long horns that were identical to Jim's. She opened her mouth to reply, but was suddenly pushed aside by someone else — or, rather, _two_ someone else's.

"Hey, she didn't mess up!"

"When are they from, then?"

Jim jerked back in surprise as two young boys pushed the teenaged Ellie out of the way, causing the girl to fall back onto her butt. At first glance, they appeared human; they were identical, clearly twins, and no older than maybe nine. They had the same shaggy haircut, the color a copper red as it fell around their thin, freckled faces, and the same blue eyes. One was wearing dark blue sweatpants, while the other wore gray. The drawstrings on both of their pants was drawn tight, yet the pants seemed way too big for the boys. Likewise, they were each wearing a dingy, white t-shirt that hung off of their thin frames like blankets. Their skin was pale, but freckled, like Ellie's, but the bright red of their hair made the brown spots stick out glaringly. The only difference in their faces was that each boy only had one lower fang protruding from their mouths, but on opposite sides from the other. Other than that, they seemed completely human… but then Jim caught sight of two long, thin, and flesh colored tails waving in the air behind the boys, each tail topped with a tuft of copper hair.

"Get out of his face!" another boy's voice growled, deeper and older. The twins yelped in unison as their tails were grabbed and they were yanked roughly back. Jim looked up see a young, teenaged boy, his skin the same shade of blue as Jim's, his hair the same dark blue as his, as well. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that boy was shorter, thinner, lacking horns, and had brown eyes, Jim would have thought he was looking into a mirror. Even the lay of the boy's hairstyle was the same as Jim's. He was wearing sweats and a t-shirt, like the twins, though his seemed to fit better than theirs.

There was a slight movement at the blue boy's leg and Jim looked to see a small child, perhaps no older than four, peeking out from behind him. It was a little girl, her hair a dark brown, little horns protruding out of the top of her head. Her eyes were a dark green, and her skin was pale, like Ellie's, but the wings fluttering nervously behind her were the same shade of blue as the boy that she was hiding behind. She was wearing a grungy t-shirt that dwarfed her small form like a dress.

All of the children had bare feet and were unnaturally thin.

"Daddy?" the little one said in a small voice, her wide green eyes watering. She shuffled out from behind the older boy, taking a step toward Jim. "I scared… why you not talking to us?"

Jim's world went black.

 _To be continued..._

✧ ✩ _**PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!**_ ✩ ✧


	33. Chapter Thirty-Three

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

➳ _I'm excited, how about you? Enjoy, my loves!_

 **Chapter Thirty-Three**

Someone was shaking him.

"…ake up. _Please_ wake up!"

"No," Jim groaned, turning his head away from the desperate voice. "I'm having a nightmare."

"No," the voice replied, gripping his arms and forcefully pulling him up into a sitting position. Jim blinked open his eyes to see the teenaged girl that was supposedly Ellie crouching in front of him. Her blue eyes were filled with tears and were roving over his face hungrily, like she hadn't seen him in forever. "I'm sorry, Daddy. It's not a nightmare."

"We can't stay here," the blue boy said, and Jim looked up to see the boy standing near the mouth of the alley (when did that happen? Jim was pretty sure that they'd been in the middle of the street before). His back was to them, and he was keeping nervous watch. Jim felt a thrill of recognition as he saw Claire's Moonlight Bow strung across the boy's back, along with a quiver of arrows with glowing white tips. The boy turned back to them, his gaze meeting Jim's. "It's not safe here. We have to get back."

"Wait," Jim gasped, shaking his head in confusion. "Claire! Where's Claire?!"

"Chill, Daddy!" a younger boy's voice said from the side, snickering. "Mama's over here. She and Uncle Merlin just haven't woken up yet."

Jim looked toward his right and spotted the red-headed twins seated on the ground on either side of a passed out Claire. The one in the blue sweatpants was leaning forward slightly and gently brushing Claire's hair out of her face. Behind the one in gray sweats, Merlin was sprawled out on the ground, a puddle of drool pooling around his open mouth. Jim stumbled to his feet, gently pushing away Ellie's helping hands and leapt to Claire's side, landing in his natural crouch beside her. The boy that had been brushing his fingers through Claire's hair leaned back to give Jim room, but then nuzzled into his side, small purrs and whines of familial greeting rising in his throat.

"Eric, _stop it_!" the blue boy hissed, grabbing the younger boy's tail again and yanking him away from Jim. "He doesn't know who you are!"

"But…" Eric whimpered, crouching down by the older boy's feet and hanging his head dejectedly.

"Given that I'm looking at my teenaged daughter, who I know was only six months old an hour ago," Jim began, looking up from his unconscious mate and toward Ellie and then back toward the blue boy. "…and I'm familiar with Time magic, and everyone is calling me _Daddy_ , I'm sure I can guess who you all are."

" _See_?" Eric said to his older brother, sticking his tongue out at the boy before flinging himself forward again, and nuzzling himself back into Jim's side.

"Where's the little one?" Jim asked, glancing around for the littlest member of the group as he gently hugged the young boy leaning into his side. It _was_ a little weird, but the child seemed desperate for affection and Jim's protective and paternal instincts responded to that. He'd have time to sort the confusion out later, but right now, the boy needed him, and he wasn't going to deny him.

"Sophie's tummy hurts," the other twin said, his gaze longing and jealous as he watched his brother cuddle into Jim's side. Jim held out his other arm for the boy, and his blue eyes lit up. In the next second, he was on Jim's other side, nuzzling, purring, and whining too.

"Is she sick?" Jim asked, his heart beginning to pound in worry. Again, he looked around for the child, but couldn't find her. "Where—?"

"She's down that way," Ellie assured him, nodding her head toward the closed end of the alley. Jim looked over to see a small shadow shuffling against the wall from behind a large dumpster. Now that he was paying attention, he realized that he could also hear gagging and retching sounds.

"Oh," Jim gasped and made to stand, gently pushing the twins back from himself. "Stay with Mama."

The boys were very reluctant to let go, but did as he asked, and then Jim made the few leaps necessary to reach the far end of the alley. Peeking around the edge of the dumpster, Jim's heart lurched in his chest at the sight that greeted him. The little girl's back was turned to him as she crouched down, balancing on the balls of her little feet that were covered in a watery puddle of yellow vomit. Her blue wings were hanging limp across her back and dragging through the sick as well.

"Sophie?" Jim asked, recalling what the one twin had called her. He crept around the corner of the dumpster and reached forward to place his hand in the center of her back, between her wings. He frowned at the unnatural heat her body was producing, her shoulders trembling. "Does your tummy hurt, baby?"

"Sí," Sophie mumbled, sniffling and coughing again. Her shoulders tightened beneath his hand and then there was a wet splash as the toddler vomited again. "An' I cold…"

"Shh…" Jim soothed, quickly taking off his shirt and bundling the little girl in it, like a blanket. He was careful to help her fold her wings back in so that they wouldn't be crushed or twisted as he wrapped her up in a little burrito, and then brought her into his arms to cradle. She blinked slowly up at him, her green eyes dull, strands of brown hair sticking to her flushed face with sweat. "It's okay. I've got you."

The little one shook her head weakly, sniffling even as she burrowed into the warmth of his embrace. "Aiden say that you not really Daddy. He say you don' know us."

Jim sighed, guessing that 'Aiden' was the younger, grouchier look-a-like that was standing guard and bossing his siblings around. "Well, he's right, in a way. I haven't met you yet, but I know enough to know that you're my little girl, right?"

Sophie grinned weakly up at Jim, nodding and nuzzling her little face into his chest. "You an' Mama won' go 'way again?"

"Go away?" Jim asked, his breath catching with fright. He couldn't imagine he or Claire leaving their children defenseless — at least, not willingly.

Before Sophie could respond, Jim felt a sudden rush of mixed and panicked emotions flood over from his mate, and then he heard her let out a short scream. Cuddling the toddler into his embrace, Jim turned and leapt back over the dumpster and rushed to crouch by Claire's side. His wife was shuffling backward, away from the twins who had been hovering close to her, while Ellie and Aiden stood back. As the scream echoed startlingly through the alley, Jim didn't miss the way the two older teens cringed, Ellie looking around nervously, while Aiden marched forward and yanked the twins back by the tails again. This, of course, just made the boys cry out, adding more noise to the chaos.

"Shh!" Ellie tried to hush everyone, waving her hands in calming motions. " _Please_ —"

"Tell _him_!" Eric whined, yanking his tail out of his older brother's grasp and cradling it protectively. Beside him, his twin did the same, snarling at the blue boy grumpily.

"You don't have ta pull 'em like that!" the unnamed twin growled. He released his tail at the same time as Eric let go of his own, and the two appendages wrapped around each other, in the same manner that two people might hold hands.

"Well, if you would _listen_ ," Aiden growled back, a deep, annoyed snarl on his face. "I—"

" _Enough_ ," Jim said in a firm voice, and all of the children fell silent. Aiden looked away, his expression guilty. Beside him, his wife was having a minor freak out.

" _What is going on_?!" Claire screeched, her voice echoing off the alley walls. Merlin stirred a little at the noise, and then turned over and started snoring.

"Shh, Claire," Jim tried to soothe her while gently rocking the sick toddler in his arms. "It's okay—"

"It is _not_ okay!" Claire yelled, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she started to hyperventilate. " Wh-where are we? _When_ are we? Why — why does everything look like we're in an episode of _Stranger Things_?!"

"What's _Stranger Things_?" Eric asked, tilting his head to the side curiously.

"What's an 'episode'?" his twin added, tilting his head in the same way as his brother.

"They're talking about television," Aiden said in a quiet voice, rolling his eyes.

"What's 'television'?" the twins echoed in unison.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Claire said, stumbling to her feet and falling back against one of the alley walls, clutching her head in her hands. "No, no! I - I can't be here. We have to go _back_! El—Ellie's all alone! _I have to get back to my baby_!"

"Technically, I'm right here, Mama," Ellie said in a gentle voice, moving to Claire's side and placing a hand on her shoulder.

Claire gasped and looked up, her eyes roving over the teenaged Ellie's face in shock. Her hands left her head and reached for her daughter's face, cupping it gently. "…Ellie?"

"Hi, Mama," Ellie replied, smiling sadly. She leant forward and pressed a soft kiss to her mother's tear streaked cheek. "I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do, but I… I guess I reached too far back."

"You mean _you_ —" Jim started to say, but then they all jumped in fright as Merlin suddenly sat up, brightly alert.

"Ah, well, that makes sense."

" _Nothing_ about this makes sense, you loony wizard," Claire half laughed, half sobbed.

"Well, actually, it does," Merlin said, using his staff to pull himself to his feet, his gaze roving curiously over the children. His expression became amused. "My goodness, you two certainly like to procreate, don't you?"

"Ew," Aiden and twins said together, disgusted looks twisting their expressions. Ellie rolled her eyes.

"Merlin," Jim growled warningly, noting that the child in his arms had fallen into a fitful doze.

"What I mean," Merlin said, chuckling a little. "…is that it makes sense that Ellie would have the ability to manipulate Time. Think about it: she could have very likely inherited each of your magical elements — Light and Dark — and somehow created her own brand of magic from them. _Time_ magic. Perhaps it wasn't the clash of magics that initially threw you back in Time when Usurna attacked you. Perhaps it was Ellie."

"She wasn't even _born_ yet," Claire said, her voice exasperated. She let her hands drop from Ellie's face to grasp her hands instead. " _How_ could she—"

"A child doesn't have much control over their magical abilities," Merlin shrugged. "She likely reacted to Claire's panic and _boom_! Time travel."

"That would mean that… all of our children would have similar abilities…" Jim said, looking around at the children in the alley.

"Not really," Eric said, shrugging and then snickering as he glanced over to his older brother. "Unless you think being bossy is a magical ability."

"I am _not_ —" Aiden started, snarling down at the boy.

"Aiden, _stop it_ ," Ellie reprimanded the boy, throwing her own snarl at her brother. "This isn't help—"

A loud screeching sound echoed through the air, and they all jumped. Ellie let go of her Claire's hands and rushed over to the twins, grabbing their hands and shoving them behind her as she shuffled them backward down the alley. "Sven, open a portal."

"What?" the twin in the gray sweatpants yelped, clearly startled by the sudden request. "No, wait! I can't! I need more ti—"

"Open it, _now_!" Ellie yelled, and Jim was just about to chastise _her_ for bossing the younger boy around when a large shadow passed in front of the mouth of the alley, blocking out what little light there was. " _Sven, open it_!"

A spark of light flashed against the back wall of the alley, and Jim glanced back to see Sven holding his hands out toward the wall, his palms glowing with a soft, blue-white light. A spark, like electricity, shot from his hands toward the wall and a small, white portal formed in mid-air, collapsing after only a few seconds.

"I _can't_!" Sven cried, tears beginning to spill from his eyes. His tail twisted tighter around his brother's as they continued to stumble back.

A loud roar echoed off of the dilapidated buildings around them, and Jim gasped and stumbled toward Claire, quickly pressing the toddler into her arms and then shoving her behind himself. The creature at the mouth of the alley was nothing like he had ever seen, looking as if it were made of pure darkness. It was at least two heads taller than himself, several limbs — more like tentacles — reaching out in front of it and bracing against the buildings on either side. The warn and brittle bricks were crumbling away with the pressure. Jim couldn't see any eyes on the creature, but it had one wide mouth, like a gash across its head, filled with pointed teeth that were dripping a deep crimson liquid that he was sure wasn't saliva. The scent rising up from the creature was like a thousand dead bodies, and he if he wasn't so frightened, he would have puked. One of its tentacle-limbs shot forward, and Jim reacted instinctually, his armor summoning itself immediately, Daylight held tight in his fists. He swung his blade, and the creature let out a screeching yowl as the limb was severed. Jim was distracted as the cut off end landed at his feet, still writhing, and he didn't see the other tentacle coming at him until it was too late.

" _Fuck_!" Jim gasped as the limb slammed into his chest, knocking the breath from him and causing lightening-like pain to radiate from the old wound on his chest and burn along the scars. He heard several voices shout out to him, and then hands yanking him back.

"Daddy, we need to _move_!"

Jim looked up to see Aiden nocking an arrow and firing, but the boy fired too far to the left and missed, the creature advancing and shooting out another tentacle toward the boy. Jim flung himself forward, shoving Aiden out of the way and crying out as the tentacle caught him in the chest again, flinging his body back. Before he could right himself, or even catch his breath, Aiden was pulling him up and flinging his arm over his shoulders, stumbling them both backwards.

" _Hurry!_ "

Aiden turned them so that their backs were to the creature and started trying to run forward, forcing Jim's feet to stumble into action. At the end of the alley, a large white portal was spinning against the bricks. Just outside of it, Ellie was standing, cradling her little sister in her arms. Next to her, Claire was bracing Sven in her arms, the boy leaning back into her chest. She was holding his hands out and clasped in hers, adding her own magic to his.

"Get in, get in!" Ellie shouted, passing Sophie off to Eric, who took the toddler and then leapt into the light and disappeared.

Jim was still trying to suck in a proper breath, but between his pain and his panic, he felt like his chest just couldn't expand. Aiden dragged him forward, looking back and dodging another tentacle just in time. "Dad, _move your ass_!"

" _Language_ ," Jim gasped, and Aiden barked a bitter laugh, shaking his head.

"Only you could be not Dad and still Dad," the boy muttered under his breath.

"Reprimand the boy later, James," Merlin shouted, coming up and grabbing Jim's other arm and pulling it over his shoulders, so that Jim was supported between the old man and Aiden. With the added help, the two managed to dodge another tentacle, and then throw themselves through the portal.

It was different than a shadow portal; they were surrounded by blinding light, and Jim felt weightless for a few seconds, but then the light disappeared and they crashed back to the ground. He cried out in agony as the impact knocked what little breath he had managed to take back out of him again. His chest and abdomen felt like it was on fire, and his mind flashed back to Morgana, her death magic ripping through his body without mercy. Suddenly, he was consumed with terror, like he was back in that moment, facing death — trading his existence, so that those he loved could live. He'd been terrified then, knowing death was coming for him, but he'd acted anyway, more frightened of losing the people he loved than losing his own life. But it was different now; now, there was just fear. So much fear that it was all-consuming — he couldn't speak, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't move…

"…im! _Jim_! Jim, snap out of it!"

"Daddy?"

"What's wrong with him?"

"Get out of the way! Jim! Jim, let your armor go! _Jim_!"

He didn't want to. The very thought of being without his armor, his only protection, made his terror all the more real. His heart was pounding, his throat closing, his body being ripped apart from the inside out…

And then there were familiar hands on his face, soft lips on his, the taste of his mate on his tongue, her scent being pushed into his lungs. He sucked in a breath, stealing the air from Claire's lungs, and she jerked back, coughing as he tried to regulate his breathing despite the agony coursing through him and the fear pounding away with his pulse. Jim wrenched his eyes open to find himself lying flat on his back and staring up at a rotted, wooden ceiling, and then Merlin's concerned face was in front of him.

"James, you need to release the armor," the old wizard said in a slow and calm voice, his eyes intense. Jim saw him glance up and address someone off to the side. "Am I correct in assuming that that creature was a being of the Shadow Realm?"

"We call them Night Stalkers," Aiden's voice responded, no small amount of fear in his voice.

Merlin nodded, and then looked back down at Jim, his expression grim. "I suspected as much. The name that I know them by is far more ancient, and I've only ever heard of them in legend. James, I know you're frightened, but that is entirely the work of this creature's abilities. I cannot help you unless you release the armor."

Jim shook his head, his heart pounding in his ears, his breath becoming short again. His mind flashed to floating in blackness, his body twisting and changing, his bones breaking and reforming, horns piercing through his scalp, teeth elongating, every part of him ripping apart and bleeding…

"Jim? Jim, mi amor," Claire was there, grasping his face in her hands again. "Jim, _please_. Please let your armor go. We want to help, but we need to see what that thing did to you. I'm right here, mi amor. I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here."

The nightmare that Anger Rot's pixies had thrown him into, the whole world fallen to darkness, Claire dead and turned to stone…

"Daddy, it's okay," Ellie's voice said from somewhere off to the side, the sound distant and echoing. "We're safe now. It's okay."

The sound of a gunshot, the wet splat of something soft being forcefully splattered over a hard surface…

"I'm sorry," Ellie said suddenly, shaking her head, and then she placed her hand over the Amulet on Jim's chest and closed her eyes. A second later, Jim cried out as the magic was sucked out of the object, making him feel weak and shaky. As the magic drained from him, his armor flickered, and then dissipated back into his soul, leaving his chest bare and exposed. He wasn't sure what was on his chest that was giving everyone such a horrified look, but he didn't have time to ponder before Merlin was waving his staff over Jim's chest. The emerald began to glow brightly and Jim arched his back as a black mist was seemingly sucked up out of his body and into the gem.

Crashing back down to the floor, Jim gasped for breath, his chest expending with far more ease than before, his intense fear suddenly gone entirely. "What…?"

"Hm," Marlin hummed thoughtfully as he gazed at the black mist now swirling in the center of his magic emerald. "I suspected as much. A Draugr."

"No," Jim said, shaking his head tiredly. He could breathe now, his chest and abdomen aching, but no longer being ripped apart. "Draugrs are reanimated corpses."

"In the traditional sense, yes," Merlin agreed, reaching out for Jim's hand and helping him to sit up. As he did so, Jim saw Claire right next to him, Ellie and the twins next to her. Behind them, Aiden sat on the floor, leaning back against the wall with Sophie cradled in his arms. They were in a large room of some sort, the floor, walls, and ceiling all made of an ancient and rotted looking wood. It was cold in the room, but it was lit up by a few strategically placed Glow Crystals in varying colors of blue and amber. Dingy blankets and clothing items were strewn about, as well as a few rugged looking toys. Jim thought he recognized one of Ellie's cloth dolls, the item looking dirtier and far more warn than the one he knew from his own time; the doll's head was barely hanging on by a few threads. At the end of the room, a rickety, wooden ladder rose up toward a trapdoor on the ceiling. Jim's attention centered back on Merlin as the old man continued with his thought. "But what animates the corpse, hm? Without the corpse, what powers are at work? What we saw tonight was a _true_ Draugr. It's not a matter of simple necromancy. The corpse is merely a vessel, you see? Normally, the barrier between realms only allows for small cracks and tears to form — only enough room for a small piece of the creature to cross through and infect the unaware host — but _if_ the barrier were to be torn down, imagine what could come over."

"So, what? It tried to _infect_ Jim?" Claire asked, running her hands delicately over his chest. He hissed in pain as the slight pressure caused his old wounds to flare again. She gasped and quickly withdrew her hands, and Jim looked down, shocked to see that his once healed wounds were now raw and open, red blood oozing from the deepest ones. It looked and felt exactly as it did right after Morgana had shot him with her death magic.

"In a sense," Merlin nodded, frowning grimly. "The powers of a Draugr in its natural form aren't known, obviously. I daresay, one has never entered the Living Realm in its entirety before. As a being of pure darkness, however, there are some stories and conjecture that say the Draugr can make its host relive their most horrific memories, over and over again, without reprieve, trapping the victim in an endless cycle of fear and weakness."

"That sounds about right," Jim said, squeezing his eyes shut against the images and feelings that had been brought vividly to the front of his mind.

"But it only punched him," Aiden spoke up in a confused voice. Jim opened his eyes again to find that the boy had shuffled forward to sit on Merlin's other side, his little sister braced against his chest, her head resting on his shoulder. "How could it have hurt him like that from just a punch?"

"Magical wounds take years to heal fully," Merlin replied dismissively, gesturing with his free hand toward Jim's chest. "With the amount of dark magic that those punches transferred over, it's no wonder it reopened all of his wounds. _Your_ Jim was likely fully healed, but _this_ Jim has only had a little over a year since he was nearly slaughtered by Morgana."

" _WHAT?!_ " the children all gasped loudly, making Jim cringe and flatten his ears back against the noise. Sophie startled awake and started crying, and then threw up all over her brother's chest when he lightly bounced her in an attempt to shush her.

"Ugh, Soph!" Aiden groaned, holding the bundle of crying toddler away from himself in disgust, his scruff standing on end.

"Oh, stop!" Ellie chastised, rolling her eyes as she took Sophie out of her brother's arms and cradled her to her own chest, rocking her gently. "She can't help it."

"She could have warned me," Aiden grumped, peeling his shirt off as if it were a bomb.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Sven interrupted, waving his hands dramatically. "What do you mean _slaughtered_? Mama and Daddy _beat_ Morgana! That's what we were always told."

"Well, I can't imagine any parent wanting to tell their children the down and dirty details of _war_ , lad," Merlin replied in a gentle and understanding voice. "They likely kept the nastier details to themselves. The truth of it, is that Morgana cast some very powerful magic that was meant to kill several people at once, and your father jumped in front of the blast and took all of the hits, so that they would never reach their intended targets. Truthfully, I'm not sure how he survived, in the first place, but he did — barely. Those wounds were healed on the surface, but will take years to heal fully. Now, he'll have to start all over."

"Great," Jim coughed, tasting blood on the back of his tongue. "Will a healing spell help?"

"The surface wounds, perhaps," Merlin nodded, studying the wounds carefully. He gave his staff a couple of taps against the ground, and the black mist that had been swirling in the gem's center dissipated. Again, he hovered the gem over Jim's chest, and then closed his eyes and began muttering a spell. The emerald pulsed a few times, and Jim's chest and abdomen began to itch as the skin began to seal over again. After a few minutes, the surface wounds were completely sealed and scarred over, though Jim could tell that the deeper wounds were still raw on the inside. His pain was significantly less, however, and he was able to breathe normally. "There. You should still take it easy for a while."

"You're such an _idiot_!" Aiden suddenly growled, and he shot to his feet and grabbed Ellie by the shirt, shaking her roughly. "I _knew_ this was a stupid idea! You pulled them from too far back! Even as the Trollhunter, you can't control your stupid magic!"

" _What?!_ " Jim gasped, his heart beginning to pound again and his breath shortening in panic. He struggled to stand, but Merlin and the twins tried to keep him down with gently restraining hands. "What do you mean Ellie's the Trollhunter?! No, no, no, _no_!"

"Daddy, it's okay," Ellie said, giving Sophie back to Aiden as the boy let her go with a guilty expression on his face. She scooted closer to Jim, holding out her hands, where she was holding two identical Amulets of Daylight. Jim felt his soul drawn to the one in her left hand and knew that that one was his, while the other was a future version of the same. "The reason we tried to pull you and Mama from the past is so you could help us change our present. The future hasn't been written for you yet, so you can change it."

"Wouldn't that create a paradox?" Claire worried, her wide eyes glancing between all of the children anxiously, her eyes finally landing on the very sick toddler in Aiden's arms.

"No, actually, I think they may be correct," Merlin said, looking thoughtfully at the two amulets that Ellie was holding. "When you first experienced time travel, you went backward along a Timeline that had already been established, and therefore couldn't be changed; however, this time, we've been pulled forward. We have not made the choices that have resulted in the current world state yet, and therefore, this could be considered an alternate universe, in a way — a little pocket of possibility, but not an established course."

"But _they've_ lived it," Jim said in confusion, nodding to his future family. "It's an established Timeline for _them_."

"And _they_ are a part of the alternate universe," Merlin said, nodding almost to himself. "They are just possibilities. For example," Merlin pointed his staff at Ellie. "How old are you, my dear?"

"Sixteen," Ellie replied, cocking her head and looking at the wizard in curiosity.

Merlin nodded, and then moved his staff to point at Aiden. "And you, lad?"

"I just turned fifteen last week," Aiden replied quietly, rocking his sister in his arms absently.

"Now, in the vision that the dragon showed you," Merlin said, turning back to Jim. "You said that Ellie appeared to be almost three or four when your second child would be born, yes?"

"Vision?" Claire asked, confusion building up in her. "What vision?"

"I'll tell you later," Jim promised, a little annoyed that the old man hadn't kept his mouth shut. To keep her from pressing the issue, Jim brought his attention back to Merlin. "Yes, that's what it looked like."

"But she also told you that aspects of that further could be brought to pass _or_ prevented entirely," Merlin said, and Jim nodded, grateful that the old man hadn't elaborated on what those aspects were, exactly. "So, that was also a pocket of possibility. In order for these two to be the ages that they say they are, your boy here will have to be conceived in less than a year's time, meaning that the future that the dragon showed you did not come to pass — at least not along this Timeline."

"My head hurts," Eric whined, rolling his eyes and giving Merlin an exasperated look. "What's your point, Uncle Merlin?"

"The _point_ , my young man," Merlin said, his tone a little miffed as he gave the boy a slight glare. "Is that this world state is an unstable one. Easily changed, once we are back in our own Time. Though, I suspect if it were as easy as simply making once choice over another, things would already be changing themselves. I believe we need more information."

"What do you need to know?" Ellie asked, sitting back on her knees and placing the two Amulets on the floor in front of her.

"Well, I believe we can guess Jim's fate, given that _you_ now hold the mantle of Trollhunter, Eleanor," Merlin said in a grim voice, frowning sadly. "However, I do question the whereabouts of your mother."

"Mama…" Eric started, a slight whine in the back of his throat. He shook his head, and then threw himself forward into Claire's arms, nuzzling into her neck. She hugged the boy back tightly, burying her face in his hair.

"It was my fault," Aiden choked out, hugging his sister closer to himself. His face was wet with tears, and he stared harshly at the floor. "Mama and Ellie went hunting, and I was supposed to be watching the littles, but I… it got too dark, so I lit some glow stones. An… an Arachne saw the light and found us. I tried to fight, but… the boys and Sophie got away, but the Arachne took Violet. When Mama came back, she went after it… neither of them came back. We only ever found Mama's bow."

"I'm hoping 'Violet' is the name of the family dog?" Merlin said in a deadpan voice, his expression hesitant.

Aiden opened his mouth to reply, but then snapped it shut again, shaking his head violently. Jim and Claire shared a terrified look, Jim's throat tightening again.

"Violet's our baby sister," Sven said in a quiet voice, anxiously wringing his tail, his eyes glowing wetly. "She was just a few weeks old."

"How long ago was this?" Jim asked in a hoarse voice, holding his arm out for Sven, who was giving his twin jealous looks again as the boy received attention from Claire. Sven scurried to Jim's side and cuddled in, being gentle and careful not to touch his wounds or jostle him too much. Jim hugged the boy with one arm, and then reached over with the other to run his hand lightly through Sven's soft hair.

"A few months," Ellie replied in a soft whisper, her gaze also fixed on the floor. "We looked for weeks, but… you and Mama always told us to not stay in one place for long. When we found Mama's bow… I made the decision to keep moving. I don't know where we are, exactly. Somewhere in Appalachia."

"What is this, then?" Jim asked, gesturing to the room that they were in.

"We're in an old mountain church," Ellie said, laughing a little. "The older churches have hiding places under the worship rooms. The creatures from the Shadow Realm are horrible and relentless… but they're stupid. If they don't see you or smell you, they're unlikely to find you."

"But the barriers between the realms…?" Claire wondered in confusion, shaking her head, and then pressing a soft kiss to the top of Eric's head.

"Torn down," Aiden said, his voice breaking with emotion. "At least the barrier between the Shadow Realm and the Living Realm. The Draknagoth ripped it apart when Daddy…" he trailed offed, and then looked up, his expression furious again as he glared Ellie down. "Because _this_ idiot is too weak to know what she's doing. I don't know why the Amulet even chose you. All those sword fighting lessons with Daddy, and you _still_ couldn't—"

"Well, what about _you_?!" Ellie screeched back, standing to her feet and marching over to her brother. She stopped just short of grabbing him, and Jim suspected that if the boy hadn't had Sophie in his arms, Ellie would have punched him. "You carry that bow around like you're the archer you're named after, but you couldn't shoot a target a foot in front of you! If you _could_ , Mama and Violet wouldn't have been _eaten by an Arachne_! Hell, if you weren't so afraid of the dark, _it wouldn't have even found you all, in the first place_!"

"How dare—!"

" _Enough_!" Jim growled, gently pushing Sven back and standing to his feet. He gasped for breath with the exertion, but ignored the pain, moving to stand between the arguing teens. "What's done is done. There's no changing it now."

"Well, technically—"

"Shut up, Merlin."

"Right."

"Daddy, you don't understand—"

"It's all _her_ fault—"

"I tried—"

"And _failed_!"

" _Stop_ ," Jim demanded, grabbing Ellie and Aiden by their shoulders and glaring between them. "Look, I know you're scared, but blaming each other for things neither of you could help is _not_ going to make things better." He paused, sucking in a shaky breath as his words echoed the last sentiments that he'd tried to get across to his father. Shaking the thoughts free, he looked back between his children again, his heart twisting painfully at the desperate expressions on their faces. "Claire and I are your parents. It is _our_ job to protect _you_ , and I am _so_ sorry that we left you feeling like you had to be the responsible ones. I _never_ want any of you to be in a situation where you have to make decisions like this when you're just children yourselves, but right now, right here — this is where we're at. We're here now, and we're going to fix this, okay?"

"How?" Ellie sobbed, her shoulders slumping in defeat as she covered her face with her hands. "Aiden's right. I can't fight! I lock up and can't move. He can't shoot, and he's terrified of the dark! Sven can't create a portal without at least an hour's warning! Eric's only ability is that he can make himself invisible, which doesn't help any of us, and Sophie's sick! We're going to _die_!"

"No, you're not," Jim assured her, letting Aiden go and pulling Ellie into his arms, so that she could cry into his shoulder. "I _promise_ , I am not going to let anything happen to any of you."

"But she's right," Eric sniffled, leaning back from Claire's embrace. "The dark thing got you, and the Arachne got Mama… how can a past you win, when the present you didn't?"

"Hey," Claire said, cupping the boy's face in her hands and giving him a small smile. "Your Dad is right — we're going to figure this out and fix it, so that when we go back to our own Time, none of this will happen."

"But what if you change it too much?" Sven asked, chewing his lip nervously. "What if you forget to have one of us? Wh—what if me or Eric end up as _girls_?!"

"Well, we'll try very hard to make sure you all turn out when and how you're supposed to," Jim chuckled in amusement, tightening his arms around his daughter as she continued to cry into his chest. She was aggravating his wounds, but he kept silent, knowing that she needed him more than he needed physical comfort.

"Yeah, can we not discuss baby making, please?" Aiden interjected, his face twisting with disgust.

Ellie gave a watery giggle, turning her head to stick her tongue at her brother. "Aiden's still traumatized from _the talk_."

"What talk?" Sven and Eric asked at the same time. Merlin burst out laughing as Claire blushed and began to stutter and mumble under her breath.

"I'll tell you when you're older," Jim laughed, smirking at his mate when she glared back.

"I'm not _traumatized_ ," Aiden replied in a miffed voice, awkwardly rocking Sophie in his arms. He froze when she made a gagging sound and held her away from himself just in time for her to puke all over the floor again.

"Yeah, it's starting to smell pretty bad in here," Sven complained, making his own gagging sounds.

"I swear to Deya, if you start hurling too—"

" _BLEGH_!"

" _Sven_!"

 _To be continued..._

✧ ✩ _**PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!**_ ✩ ✧


	34. Chapter Thirty-Four

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

➳ _I cried while writing this chapter, as I pulled from personal experience; I hope the emotion came across well in writing. Enjoy, my loves!_

 **Chapter Thirty-Four**

"Jim? May I have a word, lad?"

Jim looked up at Merlin, rubbing Sven's back as the boy heaved again, puking into a rusty pot. Like his sister, he was beginning to develop a fever, and also like his sister, he was bringing up nothing but bile. Claire had tried to heal the children with her healing spell, but it did very little, except ease some of their discomfort for an hour or so. Thankfully, none of the others seemed to be ill, but Jim could see how malnourished they all were, and he suspected that their sickness had less to do with actually being sick, and more with not having had proper nourishment in who knows how long. He suspected that whatever liquids that they were drinking also weren't very clean, which only added to the problem. After much convincing, Claire had managed to get Sophie to nurse, but the other children had been too embarrassed by the idea of drinking breast milk, even though Claire had assured them that she would express the milk into a cup.

"Now?" Jim asked, gently hugging the young boy as he sat up for breath and leaned his sweaty forehead into his chest, panting heavily.

Merlin's expression twisted guiltily, but he nodded and gestured with his staff toward the ladder that lead up to the surface. "Just for a few minutes."

"No, don't go," Sven sniffled, his voice slightly whiny as his tail wrapped around Jim's arm. "Don't go, Daddy."

"Hey," Jim whispered, leaning forward to press his lips against the little boy's burning forehead. "I'll be right back, I promise. I won't leave the worship room, okay?"

Sven whimpered, closing his eyes as he nuzzled into Jim's chest, his tail curling tighter around his arm. "No, don't leave."

"Sven," Claire's voice admonished gently, and then she was kneeling down on the child's other side, placing a gentle hand in the middle of his small back. She was bare from the waist up, but Sophie clung to her like a little sloth, the combination of how Claire was cradling her body, and the dirty blanket that she was wrapped in keeping her mother decently covered. Sophie's grip on Claire was tight, her face tucked into her mother's breast, clearly too hungry to be embarrassed anymore. "Baby, Daddy will be right back, okay? I'll stay with you."

Sven shook his head again, pressing more insistently into Jim's side. "He said he would be right back last time, and he never came back at all!"

"Sven, quit being a baby!" Aiden's harsh voice cut through the tense silence, and Jim frowned at the older boy as he squatted down in front of his little brother and glared at him. "He's going upstairs, not into battle!"

" _You_ don't even care!" Sven cried, his shoulders starting to tremble, snot bubbling from his right nostril as he snarled back at Aiden tearfully. Behind the older boy, Ellie was seated on the floor and leaning back against the wall, a snoring Eric cradled against her shoulder. She watched the exchange with a worried look, but remained silent. "I heard you! You told Daddy that you _hated_ him!"

Jim's heart lurched in his chest, his throat tightening, but Aiden's stunned and guilty expression only lasted a few seconds before he stood to his feet and silently walked away. The older boy snagged a purple Glow Crystal from the floor and then threw himself down into a secluded corner, his back to them.

" _Sven_ ," Ellie admonished in a soft voice, and Sven looked down, his own expression guilty. "You know better than that."

"I _will_ be right back, Sven," Jim promised, his voice slightly hoarse with emotion. He nuzzled his face into the boy's hair, breathing in the deep, coffee-like scent that he and his twin shared. He was already familiar with Ellie's cinnamon scent, but the others all smelled different. Aside from the twins, who seemed to have the same scent, each of the children had their own unique scent that set them apart from each other. Aiden smelled sweet and citrusy, like candied lemon, while Sophie smelled woodsy, like cedar and pine. Breaking from his thoughts, Jim let go of Sven and gently untwisted the boy's tail from around his arm. "I promise that I won't leave the church."

"You needn't worry too much, child," Merlin assured Sven in a quiet voice, an unusually kind smile gracing his aged features. "I have set some dissuading spells around the perimeter of your church. Anything that comes close will find itself inexplicably confused and turn away."

Sven nodded, finally letting Jim disentangle himself from him, and Claire wrapped her free arm around the boy as he leaned his head against her shoulder tiredly. Jim watched for a moment to make sure all was well, before nodding and standing to his feet. Merlin was already across the room and halfway up the ladder and Jim moved to follow the wizard. He glanced back briefly before he climbed up, his eyes scanning over his future family worriedly. When his gaze landed on the sullen teenaged boy in the far corner of the room, Jim's heart lurched in his chest again, but Aiden never looked up, glaring down fixedly into the dim light of the Glow Crystal. Sighing, Jim turned and began to climb.

"So, what's up?" Jim asked dully as he pulled himself through the small opening in the floor, and then stood and gently closed the trapdoor behind him. The room that they were in was falling in on itself, truly a relic even before the barriers between the Living and Shadow Realms were torn down, Jim suspected. Everything was hand carved, the wood now old and crumbling. Weeds and vines had broken through the cracks and warps in the walls, punched out panes of stained glass, nature trying to take back what once belonged to it; however, the plants were withered and black, and everywhere they touched, black veins branched out, like poisoned capillaries spreading out to infect everything around them. It was dark in the world beyond the windows, but looking up, Jim could see the stars passed the parts of broken-in roof, confirming that it was merely a natural nightfall, rather than the ominous, fire-like smoke of a spell like the Eternal Night.

"Several things," Merlin said, breaking Jim from his thoughts. He looked down again, catching Merlin's worried and haggard expression. "First, I suspect that this will not be an easy fix."

"It wasn't exactly an _easy fix_ last time, either," Jim chuckled darkly, shoving his hands in his pockets and shivering a little as a chill wind blew through the dilapidated building. Odd. Even without a shirt — as he was now — he could usually withstand lower and higher temperatures just fine. Something about this wind, however, seemed darker, like it was passing through his very soul.

"No," Merlin agreed, tapping the butt of his staff against the floor nervously. "But that was also different. You had gone into the past, then — along an already established Timeline, as I said before. There was no chance that you could change anything, because it had already happened. This is very different."

"Because we _can_ change things, this time?" Jim asked, already suspecting the answer, but needing confirmation.

"Yes," the old man replied, frowning in thought. "But that, in itself, may prove more difficult than we imagine."

"Why?" Jim asked, cocking his head to the side curiously. "Don't we just go back and change things?"

"We would have to know what to change," Merlin said, offering a sad smile at Jim's confusion. "In having that information and actively deciding to act in opposition to it, Time would adjust itself accordingly. We would need neither Ellie _or_ a spell to send us back in Time. This universe would dissolve around us, and we would be deposited back into the very place and moment that we were brought forward, because _this_ version of the future would no longer exist in any capacity to sustain us."

"But the kids have told us everything," Jim replied, grimacing as he sucked in a deep breath and his chest ached in pain.

Merlin allowed the Trollhunter to catch his breath before continuing. "They have told us everything that they know. Of that, it does not seem to include the key factor. They have told us that the Draknagoth is responsible, which — frankly — we would have deduced easily on our own; however, they haven't told us how the thing could have grabbed such a foothold into our world, nor even _when_ this occurred. I suspect that they simply don't know that information, and without that…"

"We can't change it," Jim surmised in a flat tone, raising a hand to tug anxiously on his horn.

"Indeed," Merlin agreed, nodding grimly. "So, we cannot return to our own Time, nor change this version of the future, until we have that information, and that… I don't know how long that will take."

"We can't be here that long," Jim said in a breathless voice, his eyes widening as he read between the lines of what the old wizard was trying to not say. "Ellie—"

"—will, technically speaking, be fine," Merlin interrupted quickly, raising a hand to grip Jim's shoulder reassuringly. "For all intents and purposes, the infant is frozen in Time, as are all of our friends, and even the world. Time would progress here, and us with it, but when we discover the truth and decide to right it, we will be deposited back to when we belong and Time will flow normally again — provided your daughter doesn't abuse her powers at random."

Ignoring the light-hearted jab, Jim shrugged out of the old man's hold gently and crossed his arms defensively across his chest. "All right. I'll have to think about that one, I guess. What's number two on your _Worry List_?"

Merlin chuckled, smiling sadly once again. "Well… I must admit to a fair bit of concern for you and Claire."

Jim winced, looking away from the old man. "If you heard me shouting at her when we were down at the baths, I—"

"What?" Merlin interrupted, and Jim glanced up to see the wrinkles on the wizard's forehead deepen in confusion. "I didn't hear any shouting, my boy. What you and the Fair Claire argue about in the privacy of your own lives is entirely your own business. No, I am more concerned over how attached you're both becoming."

"Attached?" Jim repeated, now even more confused, though slightly relieved that Merlin hadn't heard him being a total jerk to his mate. "What do you mean?"

"The children, James," Merlin said in a measured and patient voice, his green eyes penetrating deeply into Jim's soul.

"But they're _ours_ ," Jim said, laughing a little in confusion. "We can't get attached to our own kids?"

"Aside from Ellie," Merlin began in a quiet and calm voice, his eyes always fixed on Jim's face to watch his reaction. "…these children are mere possibilities. They exist along _this_ Timeline, strictly within _this_ universe… a universe that we intend to change."

"So?" Jim challenged, glaring at the old man, his scruff starting to stand on end. "We'll still have them."

"Do you intend to ask everyone their birthdate and make sure that they're conceived on time?" Merlin asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"If I have to," Jim admitted, not liking the pitying look that Merlin was giving him. "What's wrong with that?"

"Ellie was born early, wasn't she?" Merlin asked rhetorically. "Twins tend to come even earlier. What if Sophie or Aiden arrive early or late? Their birthdays would not match their conception date. Do you see? It's impossible to correctly predict when any of them could come into existence."

"The fact that they exist at all says that they were meant to be," Jim stated, shrugging slightly.

Merlin sighed and chuckled humorlessly. "My boy, there is a very fine line between _fate_ and _wishing_."

"Merlin, you probably don't know what a woman with Baby Fever looks like," Jim laughed, shaking his head. "…but if you take a look at Claire right now, you'll see that she's got it bad. And, honestly…" Jim sighed, glancing away from the wizard in slight embarrassment. "…I can't look at this the way that you do. Just because they're not born yet, doesn't make them any less mine. You can't ask me to just forget about them. I'm not—"

"—your father?" Merlin interrupted, his voice knowing. Jim grimaced, clenching his eyes shut and nodding. "James, I merely do not wish to see you or Claire hurt by this. You have both gone through too much recently to be able to handle this situation without investing too much emotion. You are clinging to these possibilities because of the one you've just lost."

"That's not true," Jim replied quickly, his breath coming short at the accusation. "I just—"

Jim broke off as a loud clatter and several shouts, yelps, and screams echoed up from below their feet, and then he and Merlin were throwing back the hatch and jumping back down into the hidden room beneath the worship room. The room was pitch black, and Jim automatically reached into his pocket for the Amulet before remembering that he had left it with its future counterpart, with Ellie. Before he could panic, however, childish laughter broke out, and then a single Glow Crystal lit up in the middle of the room, casting everything and everyone in its eerie purple light. Quickly taking stock of everyone in the room, Jim saw Sven and Sophie clinging to an as equally frightened looking Claire, while Ellie seemed to be looking around frantically for something, her expression half asleep and half panicked. A whimpering sound caught Jim's attention, and he looked toward Aiden's corner to see the boy hugging his knees tightly to his chest, his shoulders trembling as he hid his face into his knees. Another round of childish giggles broke out, and then the Glow Crystal seemed to rise in the air and float there by itself. A second later, a grinning Eric materialized out of thin air, holding the seemingly floating Glow Crystal.

"You should see the looks on your faces!" Eric snickered mischievously, and everyone glared at the boy, which only made him laugh harder.

" _Eric_ ," Ellie admonished, her panicked expression melting into one of relief, and Jim realized that Eric was what — or _who_ — she had been frantically searching for. "Now really isn't the time for your pra— _Aiden_!"

" _Du är liten knull_!" Aiden shouted, lunging himself forward to grab Eric by the shirt, shaking him furiously. "How could you—"

"Hey!" Jim growled, rushing forward and shoving himself between Eric and Aiden. "Stop it! That's _enough_!"

"You were crying like a baby!" Eric laughed, leaning around Jim to stick his tongue out at his brother.

"You—!" Aiden made another lunge, but Jim caught the slightly shorter and much thinner boy around the waist and hefted him up on his shoulder. "Dad, let me down! That little weasel—"

"Come with me," Jim interrupted calmly, and before the boy could protest, he was hauling him back across the room and putting him down in front of the ladder. "Go on."

Aiden looked back and up at Jim, his expression terrified again. "But it's night!"

"I'll be with you," Jim promised in a low whisper, reaching over to grasp the boy's hand and squeeze gently. "Everyone is hungry. Help me hunt."

"Aiden can't hunt," Eric snickered from back across the room. "He's—"

" _Shut up_!" Aiden snarled, and then he yanked his hand back from Jim's, turned abruptly, and pulled himself up the ladder and through the trapdoor.

"Jim, be careful," Claire said, rocking Sophie as the little girl cried, having been frightened awake by the chaos. Sven was rushing to his twin's side, a disapproving frown on his face right before he used his tail to smack the back of Eric's head. Eric rubbed the back of his head and pouted at his twin, and then their tails wrapped together.

"We'll be fine," Jim said, giving his mate a reassuring smile.

"Here, Daddy," Ellie said, and Jim looked over just in time to see her tossing his Amulet to him, which he caught reflexively. "Be careful. Animals aren't the only things out there."

"Promise," Jim swore, giving his daughter a calm smile. Turning to Merlin, who had remained silent and seemingly thoughtful throughout the chaos, he spoke in a quiet aside to the old man. "Merlin, watch out for them, okay? We won't be out long."

"Don't go too far out," Merlin advised cautiously as he nodded to Jim's request.

Jim nodded, and then turned and climbed the ladder once more. When he was halfway through the hatch, he saw Aiden crouching down and offering his hands to help Jim up. Not really needing the help, but grateful that the boy seemed to be acting a little friendlier, he grasped his hands and allowed his son to pull him up.

"So, do we have any requests for dinner?" Jim asked conversationally, gently bumping Aiden's shoulder with his own as they made their way to a gap in the wall that lead outside.

Aiden frowned and shrugged, ducking his head a little. "I don't know."

"You don't have a favorite?" Jim replied curiously, pausing for just a moment to scent the area as they left the safety of the crumbling building and ventured into dense forest. He could feel the wards that Merlin had cast, and he guessed that they weren't set too far out. The old man likely hadn't wanted to venture too far, not that Jim could blame him. Signaling that the coast was clear, they walked in silence for a bit, and when Jim felt them pass through the ward barrier, he turned slightly to nudge the boy again. "Aiden?"

"You'll laugh," Aiden finally said, his tone clearly embarrassed. The pouty look on his face — not quite child, but not quite adult yet, either — was endearing, and it made Jim smile.

"I will not," Jim promised, making a show of drawing a cross over the scars on his chest. "Cross my heart."

Aiden sighed, and Jim saw his shoulders tense as he clenched his fists. "Eric's right. I can't hunt."

"I wasn't very good at first, either," Jim chuckled slightly, but something about that made Aiden even more upset, and he shook his head frantically.

"It's not that," he admitted in a pained whisper. "It's my powers… they sort of… _interfere_."

"What?" Jim asked, pausing in their walk to turn and grasp Aiden's hand again, trying to seem reassuring. "What do you mean?"

Another pained sigh, and then Aiden opened his eyes to look Jim over calculatingly before gently pulling his hand back and holding up a finger. "Watch, but don't go after it, okay?"

Jim was even more confused, but nodded, figuring that he would understand once he was able to see what it was his son was talking about. Aiden smiled back at the gesture, his shoulders relaxing, and Jim realized that it was a genuine smile, not forced. For just a moment, he wasn't the angry teenager that he'd been so far; he seemed genuinely happy. Aiden turned and crouched down to the ground and closed his eyes, breathing deeply, and then he opened his mouth to speak… but the sound that came out was not words of any kind that Jim knew. It was like the boy was making a combination of animal sounds — chittering and chirping and humming and hissing — but they weren't distinguishable from any one animal that Jim knew of.

Suddenly, there was a rustling in the leaves and branches of the tree above them, and Jim looked up and jumped back in surprise just as a large possum leapt to the ground and made a beeline for his son. Remembering his promise not to react, Jim stood still and watched in astonishment as Aiden held his arms out for the animal, and it jumped up into the boy's light embrace. Aiden stood to his feet, turning the possum in his arms to cradle like an infant, all the while chittering away to the creature. The possum responded with equal enthusiasm, making its own noises, almost like the two were sharing juicy gossip.

"You can speak to animals," Jim breathed, his stomach clenching in shock as the realization hit him. "Oh, Aiden… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"It's okay, Daddy," Aiden said, rocking the possum in his arms absently. The creature seemed content and blinked sleepily at Jim as he stared back in shock. "I still eat what you hunt down. You've taken me hunting before, but you've never made me kill anything."

"Of course not!" Jim replied, his eyes widening as his stomach dropped at the very thought. He couldn't imagine having to hear the words and thoughts of every animal that he had needed to hunt and kill. "I wouldn't want you to have to hear that! I mean, I always try to make it quick, but I would never want you to—"

"I know," Aiden interrupted Jim's nervous rambling, his smile widening. "And you _do_ make it quick. I know you don't let them suffer. I've just never been good at doing the killing part myself, that's all." The possum in Aiden's arms suddenly perked up and scrambled up to sit on the boy's shoulder, its nose twitching in the air, and then it turned and chirped something to Aiden, who frowned and nodded. Turning back to Jim, Aiden gestured up to the possum on his shoulder. "Penny says there's a big, mean grizzly down the way to the East that no one will miss."

"Penny?" Jim repeated, relaxing a little and giving a slight laugh.

"That's her name, she said," Aiden replied in a matter-of-fact voice. "She says that the Grizzly is male, but past his prime, so now he just takes his frustrations out on everyone else. She says that he killed her last litter of joeys, so it would be okay with her if we took him." Aiden turned his head to look up at the possum on his shoulder and chittered something to her, and she proceeded to climb on top of the boy's head and sit up further, sniffing the air again. She sat back after a moment and chirped a response and Aiden frowned. "She says that she doesn't know if he's tainted, though."

"Tainted?" Jim repeated, amused by the interaction between the little animal and the boy in front of him. Despite the darkness of night, Aiden seemed far more at ease amongst the forest and the animals than he did cooped up with his siblings. Jim imagined that had more to do with suddenly taking on the role of adult, rather than a dislike of the other children. The more he watched Aiden, the more Jim realized that the boy was kind and sweet, and his anger and frustration were byproducts of the situation. "What do you mean? Like parasites and diseases?"

"Well, there's that too, I guess," Aiden replied, shrugging a little. He reached up and grasped the possum under her arms, and then bent to deposit the animal back on the ground. He said something to her, and she chirped another response before scampering off and back up her tree. Aiden stood up again, looking back at Jim. "You know that black stuff that Uncle Merlin pulled out of you? The stuff the Night Stalker infected you with?"

Jim cringed at the reminder, his hand automatically moving up to clench over his heart. "I'll never be able to forget that."

Aiden's frown deepened for a moment, and then he moved forward quickly, and Jim froze in shock and grunted in slight pain as the boy crashed into his chest, hugging him tightly. Taking a moment to gather himself, Jim slowly wound his arms around the teenager, hugging him lightly around the shoulders. When Aiden nuzzled into Jim's chest, a slight purr in the back of his throat, he tightened his hug around the boy and bent to nuzzle his face into his son's soft hair, breathing in his candied lemon scent.

"I'm sorry," Aiden said in a small, trembling voice after a few seconds. He spoke into Jim's chest, and he could feel the younger boy's shoulders shaking and wet tears on his bare skin. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault, Aiden," Jim replied, rubbing small, comforting circles up and down his back.

"It was right in front of me," the boy sniffled, the sound weak and pathetic. "It was right in front of me, and I couldn't even hit the damn thing!"

"Language," Jim warned teasingly, and it had the desired effect. Aiden laughed, nuzzling further into Jim's embrace. "I know you're frustrated and scared and angry right now — believe me, I know _exactly_ what you're going through — but it is not your job to protect me, okay? I don't ever want you to put yourself in danger for me, do you understand?"

Aiden shook his head, his arms tightening around Jim's waist and back. "But I should have been better. I could have—"

" _No_ ," Jim repeated firmly, and he drew his hands up to cup Aiden's face, tilting his head up so that the boy had to look up at him. Jim's heart lurched in his chest at the tear stained face that stared helplessly up at him, Aiden's face looking more childish in that moment than he had seen before. His brown eyes were glowing wetly, and his nose was running a little as he bit his lip to hold in a sob. Jim's thumb on his four fingered hand brushed a tear away as it fell, and he leaned down again to press his forehead to Aiden's. "Listen to me. I don't know what happened between you and the future me, but I know that I would _never_ not love any of you enough to die for you, okay? And it's okay to be angry about that—"

" _No_! Daddy, I—" Aiden started to interrupt, his eyes widening while his expression twisted with guilt. Jim cut him off by brushing his thumb across the boy's lips, noting that his fangs were much smaller than his own, barely protruding from his bottom lip.

"Listen," Jim said in a gentle voice, waiting until Aiden nodded to continue. "Whatever happened — whatever hurtful things were said or done — I know that they weren't really meant, and that means that _your_ version of me knew that too."

"But I said awful, terrible things," Aiden cried, clenching his eyes shut, more tears streaming down his cheeks. "And I can't take them back now. I — I was _so_ mad that you were leaving to fight, when you knew that you would lose. I… I said… I told you that you were abandoning us, and that I hated you! But I…" he trailed off with a choked sob, and Jim felt his throat constrict in pain and guilt.

"Do you know about your grandparents?" Jim asked after a moment, his heart pounding as he leaned back slightly. Aiden took the hint and reluctantly released his hold on him, but Jim didn't let him get far. He took hold of the teen's hands again and guided him down to sit on the ground by his side, wrapping an arm around Aiden's shoulders and letting him lean into his side. "My parents and Mama's parents?"

"I know Grandma Barb and Papa. They visited us all the time," Aiden said, nuzzling into Jim's side, a small, content purr vibrating in the back of his throat. "And I know Grandpa Blinky, of course. I've never met Mama's parents, but we've talked on the phone a few times. Abuela Ophelia is nice enough, I guess, but she's not very affectionate. Abuelito Javier is always nice and excited to talk to us, and sends us gifts, but I don't think he and Abuela really understand us and that makes them nervous."

Jim laughed a little, rolling his eyes. It did concern him a little that the Nuñez's involvement in their grandchildren's lives was seemingly so minimal, but as long as no one threatened or hurt the kids, he could live with that. It also made him more than a little nervous over the fates of said people in this dismal version of the future, but he chose not to dwell on it too deeply, especially with knowing that this future would be changed. "Are those the only ones you know about?"

Aiden frowned, tilting his head up to look at Jim in confusion. "I guess? Who else am I supposed to know?"

"I've never…" Jim trailed off, his voice thick in emotion, a combination of grief and fury clawing itself up his neck. He swallowed thickly against the sensation, and closed his eyes to gather himself before continuing in a hoarse voice. "I've never spoken about my father?"

"I told you that I know both Papa and Blinky," Aiden replied, shrugging a little.

Jim chuckled darkly and shook his head. "No, I mean… my _real_ father. My human father."

Aiden frowned again and looked down, reaching down to grasp Jim's free hand that had been resting on his own knee. The boy grabbed Jim's wrist and pulled it toward him a little, idly playing with the glamour bracelet on his arm. Jim noted an identical, but more warn bracelet on Aiden's own wrist, as well as another that looked different, but of similar make. The different one consisted of small chunks of Heartstone as well as small chunks of different colored Glow Crystals, which shone brightly in the dark. "You never talk about when you were human. Sometimes, I forget that you weren't always the way you are now. It's hard to imagine. I mean, I've seen your Glamour, but I know it's not exactly the same. When Grandma shows us pictures, it always throws me off."

Jim laughed a little bit, shaking his head lightly. "She still misses her human son, huh?"

Aiden shrugged, his frown deepening. "She doesn't say anything like that, but… when you're wearing your Glamour, she always seems more affectionate."

Jim sighed, nodding. "She just thinks my life would have been easier if I had decided to stay human, but she doesn't realize how many people would have died, if I had."

"So, you don't miss being human?" Aiden asked in a small voice, almost like he was afraid of the answer.

"In the beginning, I did," Jim admitted, gently nuzzling the top of the teen's head. "Being human is nothing like being a troll. Every feeling is so much more intense, and the instincts are impossible to manage, at first. I…" Jim chuckled a little, tightening his arm around Aiden. "Ellie's sort of the result of me not being able to handle my instincts very well."

"Ew," the teen gagged, flicking Jim's wrist playfully. "Wait… I thought Ellie wasn't born until you and Mama were in your twenties? And I know you became a troll when you were a teenager…"

"What?" Jim leaned back to look down at Aiden in amused surprised. "Don't you know my age?"

Aiden shrugged, cocking his head back to look up at Jim curiously. "I know when your birthday is, but you and Mama always said age wasn't important, especially since you both practically stopped aging when you became a troll and she became a sorceress. I guess you're, like… twenty-two?"

Jim burst out laughing, pulling his hand away from Aiden's and clapping it over his mouth to stifle the outburst. "Aiden… I'm seventeen."

" _What_?!" the teenager yelped, jerking back, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open slightly in shock. "But — but… you gave me a huge lecture about sex and girls and babies, and this whole time you had Ellie when you were a kid!" His expression suddenly became even more horrified, his face becoming a lighter blue as he paled. "That means you'll have me when you're still a kid too!"

Jim snickered, shaking his head and pulling Aiden back into the light hug that they had been sharing. "I wouldn't say that I'm still a kid, but yes, Ellie was conceived when Mama and I were sixteen, and I'll be eighteen when you're born… though I have to admit, it's more than a little weird to think about you being born at all, when — technically — you haven't been conceived yet."

"It's just hypocritical," Aiden grumped petulantly, grabbing Jim's wrist again to play with his bracelet. He pouted down at the object childishly. "I get caught with a magazine, and I get a lecture, but _you_ were having sex—"

"Not at fifteen," Jim said, his tone stern. As amusing as the conversation was turning, he had to remind himself that he was Aiden's father, first and foremost, and had to make sure his son grew up to be a good and responsible man. "And not until Claire and I were already living together as a mated pair. I have never been — nor will I ever _be_ — with anyone other than your mother." Jim frowned after a moment, a thought occurring to him. "Wait… a magazine?" Aiden looked up, embarrassed, but nodded. "Where did you get it?"

"Ralphie," Aiden replied in a subdued tone, his voice and expression almost longing, and Jim guessed that the friend he was speaking of was likely no longer living. "He's a couple of years younger than me, but he's all human, so he can get stuff like that easier than me. It was pretty old, so I'm guessing he found it in his Dad's old stuff. Uncle Toby only has eyes for Aunt Darci, but he's a hoarder and doesn't get rid of stuff."

Jim's heart spasmed in his chest, his breath catching in shock. "Ralphie is… Toby's and Darci's son?"

Aiden nodded again, his eyes beginning to take on a wet sheen again, and Jim had to close his own eyes and take a deep breath as he realized that everyone that he loved, save his children, were likely dead. If _any_ of his loved ones had been left alive, surely his children would not be wandering the dismal landscape, sickened and starved right now. Someone would have made sure that they were taken care of, or — at the very least — they would not be alone.

"I'm sorry," Aiden mumbled, and Jim opened his eyes to see the boy looking down in guilt again. "I shouldn't have said anything. I… you're so much like my Dad, I forget that you really aren't yet."

"I'm still the same person," Jim replied in a gentle tone, leaning down to press a light kiss to the top of the teen's head. "And time travel and alternate universes aside, I don't think I would change that much. This kind of brings me back to my original point, though."

Aiden leaned back to look up again, a confused expression adorning his features as he thought. "About your human dad, you mean?"

Jim nodded, swallowing back the grief that rose up in his chest at the very thought of the man. If he hadn't been ready to talk to his mate about this, how on Earth could he manage to get through this conversation with Aiden? But one look at the boy, and Jim knew that whatever guilt and anger was weighing him down, it needed to be expressed. It was clear that Aiden loved his father very much, which was why Jim hadn't taken Eric's taunting of his brother too seriously. Of anyone, Jim knew what it was like to spout off things he didn't mean when he was angry, and he knew what it was like to not be able to take those things back. "This… might be a bit difficult for me to talk about because it _just_ happened — as in, just about a day ago, for me."

Aiden nodded, remaining silent as he stared wide-eyed, curious, and concerned up at Jim. "You don't have to tell m—"

"I do," Jim interrupted, tightening his arm around Aiden's shoulders. He sighed a shaky breath, glancing down at his hand in his lap, his son still idly playing with the bracelet on his wrist, and Jim noted that the teen's hands were soft and smooth, so unlike his own calloused and scarred palms. There were a couple of small blisters on Aiden's thumb and index finger of his right hand that Jim recognized as the beginnings of archer callouses, but they were new, and would likely heal smoothly once they were left alone. A heavy silence fell between them for a few seconds, and then Jim spoke again, his voice thick. "My Dad… my Dad left us when I was five — my fifth birthday, in fact. He just left for work that day, and then never came home."

Aiden made a small whining sound in the back of his throat and leaned forward into Jim's embrace to nuzzle into his chest again. "Was he in an accident?"

Jim chuckled bitterly, shaking his head. "No, he _left_. On purpose. Just hopped in his car and kept on going, and… I was five, so I didn't really understand why my Daddy was suddenly gone, but the second that I realized that he wasn't coming back, that he had broken my mother's heart, and that he had more or less _rejected_ me… I hated him. God, I hated him _so_ much, you have no idea."

Aiden looked up again, his eyes shining brightly with tears. "You… did?"

Jim nodded. "Yes. He and my Mom got divorced through court mailings, so he didn't have to call, or see us, or anything, and for twelve years, I didn't hear anything from him. No phone calls, no gifts sent on birthdays or holidays, no _anything_. It was like he'd just disappeared off the face of the planet. And, anyway," he sighed, resisting the urge to reach up and grab his horn anxiously as his son seemed to find the task of playing with his bracelet soothing. "Mom was busy studying for her medical boards, and then after that, she was busy with actually _being_ a doctor. She could never afford to start her own practice, so she worked clinical and emergency rotations at the hospital. I was left alone a lot, and Mom can't cook _at all_ , and she certainly didn't have time to learn, so I just… started taking care of her. The older I got, the more that I realized that I was doing everything that my father should have been there to do. I didn't mind it, but I didn't know any other way, at that point." Jim shrugged slightly, licking his lips anxiously. "Anyway, when I became the Trollhunter… I just felt so lost, and Blinky was there to help me and support me, and he took on that role, even though I hadn't been looking for someone to, and it kind of…" he paused, struggling to find the words to describe what he had been feeling. "…it made me happy, but it also made me angrier, and I took it out on everyone around me… especially Mom. She would see my scratches and bruises, and she would worry and fuss over me… it made me furious with her."

"Why?" Aiden asked, sniffling a little and lifting a hand to brush a stray tear from his cheek.

"Because practically my whole life, I had been the caretaker," Jim explained, shrugging a little. "I was the one who took care of her, made sure she ate right, had enough sleep. I budgeted everything and made sure that the bills were sent in on time. I even looked looked after her car as best as I could, so that she would never be stranded somewhere. She had always just accepted it all with gratitude, and she sort of just took it for granted that I was okay with it all — and I _was_ okay with it… before I became the Trollhunter. After that…" he let out a long sigh, pausing to gather his thoughts. Jim was staring down at his son's hands as they gently fingered the gems on his bracelet, noting briefly that the one matching bracelet on Aiden's wrist wasn't just a copy, but the very same one, and the idea that the boy had likely had to take it off of his own dead body made his stomach twist. "…When I finally settled into my role as the Trollhunter, it was like… suddenly everything that I had been doing my whole life, my very nature, made sense to me. I was a caretaker — I _am_ a caretaker. I was _meant_ to be the Trollhunter, because I was always meant to take care of people, to protect them… but I couldn't tell that to Mom. I'd been sworn to secrecy, and I didn't want to put her in danger, and I honestly thought that she wouldn't notice anything different."

"Because she hadn't before?" Aiden guessed, pressing his palm to Jim's and slipping their fingers loosely together. The teen's other hand continued to play with his bracelet, and Jim counted five fingers on each hand with a fond smile.

"Exactly," he replied, nodding. "But she did notice, and she worried and fussed, and the more she fussed, the angrier I became. One night, I came home late from training, and she had apparently been home all day, which I didn't know, or I would have called her with an excuse. She demanded that I tell her where I had been and who I had been with, and I was so tired and annoyed, I spouted off the first thing that came to mind, which was that I had been at the library with Toby and Claire." Jim chuckled darkly at the memory, shaking his head. "Keep in mind that it was almost ten at night and the library had been closed since four, and she totally called me out on it, and I just… snapped. I'm sure the neighbors could hear us screaming at each other and slamming doors. I was just _so mad_. How dare she suddenly act like a mom should, when she never had before? And Blinky tried his best to be supportive and paternal, but he knew nothing about human customs, and his _advice_ in that area never really helped that much."

"But she found out eventually," Aiden said, looking up with a confused pout. "Was she still upset then?"

"Yes," Jim nodded again, leaning forward to nuzzle playfully against the teen's ear. Aiden tucked his chin and flinched away, a laugh pulling at the corner of his mouth. "Ticklish?"

"Why was she upset still, if she knew what was going on then?" Aiden asked, avoiding the question, but keeping his chin tucked to protect his neck.

Jim laughed a little. "For the same reasons that Mama and I are upset that Ellie is the Trollhunter, and that you all are in so much danger. It doesn't matter if you can take care of yourselves or not — you are our children, and we will always worry for you… even if it might seem that we don't."

"Don't worry about that," Aiden replied with his own laugh, shaking his head. "You and Mama are the king and queen of worrying and fussing. Neither of you were ever shy about showing us love and affection."

"You don't know how much that means to me," Jim said, relief flooding through his system. "I… had no idea how to be a dad, since I didn't grow up with one. I'm always worrying that I'll do something wrong, or make you think that I—"

"I didn't know," Aiden interrupted quickly, tears building in his eyes again. He leaned forward and nuzzled back into Jim's chest, his fingers tightening around Jim's. "I didn't know, Daddy. If I had known what he had done, I never would have said… I mean, I shouldn't have said it, anyway, because I didn't mean it. I was—"

"…angry," Jim surmised, kissing the top of Aiden's head. He took in a deep breath and started a low purr in the back of his throat, and the boy immediately began to relax at the sound, in the same manner that the infant Ellie did when she was upset and Jim purred for her. "I know. That's why I'm telling you all of this. I know what it's like to be angry and say things that you don't really mean, and I… I know what it's like to not have the chance to take them back, or to apologize. I know, Aiden. My dad…" Jim trailed off, his throat tightening almost to the point where he couldn't get words out. When his voice did manage to break through, it was in a strange, froggish tone. "When we moved to New Jersey… I met my dad by accident one day, when Mama and I were out in the city. I had no idea that he was that close, and if I had, I would have made a point to avoid him. I knew nothing about him or the life he had now, and I didn't _want_ to know; he was a stranger to me. Anyway, I guess Fate had other ideas, because Sarah was there too, and—"

"Who is 'Sarah'?"

Jim froze, his heart leaping into his throat, and he shook Aiden's hand free from his own and grasped the teen by the shoulders to push him back and look down at him in shock. "You… you don't know Sarah? Aunt Sarah? My sister?"

Aiden's eyes widened, and he shook his head hesitantly. "No."

Jim felt panic clawing at his chest, his breath becoming short at this revelation. Distantly, he could feel Claire trying to respond to his emotions, but he was too distraught to reply. Aiden seemed to recognize the beginnings of one of his father's panic attacks and moved quickly once again. The boy sat up on his knees and hugged Jim tightly around the shoulders, pressing their foreheads together, and then purposefully slowed his own breathing to a deep and measured pace that Jim attempted to match. Aiden purred calmly in the back of his throat and ran his hands lightly through Jim's scruff, and after a couple of minutes, Jim was able to calm down and avoid a full blown panic attack. It made him feel a little guilty to realize that his son must have known what to look for and how to respond, which meant that he'd had to do it before.

"I'm sorry," Jim croaked, lifting his hands to cup Aiden's face and push him back just enough to nuzzle their noses together fondly. "Thank you."

"You would have nightmares," Aiden explained, nuzzling back sweetly. "Mama would comfort you like that."

Jim made a choked sound in the back of his throat, somewhere between a laugh and a sob, and he smiled sadly at the teen. "She's not the only one, I see."

"No," Aiden's smiled back, his expression bashful. "I… I wanted to help. You… always said that I was the best at it, though."

Jim chuckled, calming more, though he was still silently freaking out in fear and confusion. What could have happened to his sister that his children wouldn't know her? Would she overdose again? Get sick? Would they argue and decide to go their own ways? Or maybe it was darker than that — what if she had been murdered, either by some human killer or something more fantastical? Or worse… what if she had made the same decision that their father had?

"I can't…" Jim swallowed thickly, shaking his head. "I'll have to worry over that later, but…" he took a deep, shaky breath to steady his nerves and Aiden sat back on his calves, his arms still draped loosely around Jim's shoulders. He let his hands drop from his son's face to sit idly in his lap, clenching and shaking with nerves. "Do you… do you know what 'suicide' is?"

Aiden frowned, his brow furrowing and Jim could read his confusion, even as the boy gave a small shrug. "I've heard the word before, but… it means that you're doing something stupid, right? Like, the twins were playing by the cliffs beyond our cave one day, and they were walking along the edge when you and I found them. You got so mad, and you snatched them back by their tails — which you _never_ do — and you asked them what they thought they were doing and if they were suicidal. I'd never seen you so mad at any of us before — you were shaking and crying and yelling at them. So, it means that you're doing something really stupid, right? Like playing on the cliffs?"

Jim had to stamp down panic again at that story, and he silently decided to keep a closer eye on the twins from now on. "I was probably more terrified than mad. 'Suicide' is a word to describe… to describe the act of killing yourself on purpose."

Aiden's mouth dropped open in shock, his head jerking back to stare at him, wide eyed. Jim could scent the tears building again, and he could hear the boy's heart hammering in his chest. "You mean… your dad…? And it _just_ happened?"

Jim nodded, staring down at his hands again, his voice barely a whisper when he spoke again. "Yes. I… I really hated him, Aiden, and I… said far more terrible things to him before this than anything you could have said to me. I called him traitor, a liar, an unfaithful bastard…" Jim sucked in a shaky breath, his stomach twisting as he recalled all of the things he had said. "And all of it was true — _is_ true. I didn't say those things out of just anger; I said them because they were true, and he knew it. I won't dare repeat the things I said about his wife, even if she was worse than him. I _hate_ him… I hate him so much; but…" Jim looked up again, lifting his hands to his son's face again and pressing their foreheads back together. Aiden leaned into the embrace, tightening his arms around Jim's shoulders again. "…he was my dad. I hate him, but… I love him too. The last things that I said to him were… not very nice. I know that he k-killed himself because he thought that he'd failed us, which he _did_ , but… I never told him that I loved him, too, and now I'll never get the chance. He died, certain that I hated him alone. Aiden," Jim dropped his arms to wrap around son's back and waist and pulled him forward to hug and nuzzle into the smaller boy's neck, which the teen reciprocated, a content purr building in his chest. "I know that your version of me died knowing that you loved him. I know that you said those things out of anger alone. I can see your love in the way you speak and act, and I am… _so proud_ of you. I am so proud of the good, kind, and compassionate man that I'll help raise." Jim leaned back with a watery smile, Aiden's own face covered with tears and a little snot. Chuckling a little, he couldn't suppress the urge to lean forward to gently lick his son's face clean, which the boy cringed back from slightly, laughing at the same time. Pressing a soft kiss to Aiden's cheek, Jim continued fondly. "So, don't feel guilty for things that were said out of anger and fear and frustration. I'm not infallible, and I'm sure we'll get angry with each other a few times over the years, but it's okay, because I know we'll always love each other, no matter what, right?"

"R-right," Aiden sniffled, nodding as his bottom lip trembled slightly, and then a heavy sob broke free, followed by a second, and then a third. On the fourth sob, Aiden crawled into Jim's lap, burrowing himself into his embrace. He hugged himself to Jim tightly, nuzzling desperately into his neck. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry… I'm s-so sorry, Daddy! I love you! D-don't leave me, please don't leave m-me!"

"Shh…" Jim soothed, hugging the teen tightly and nuzzling him in return, pressing his lips to the boy's cheek and forehead. "It's okay. I'm not going anywhere. It's going to be okay."

"Da-Daddy, I'm s-s-sorry!"

"Shh…"

And even though they were stuck in the vast wilderness of a decaying world that should never have existed in the first place, Jim comforting his would-be son as the teen sobbed his heart out, he couldn't help but feel lighter than he had in weeks.

 _To be continued..._

✧ ✩ _**PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!**_ ✩ ✧


	35. Chapter Thirty-Five

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

➳ _A shorter chapter, but I know I kept you waiting for a while. This is a fluffy chapter, of sorts, while the excitement will pick up again in the next chapter. I will try to get it out sooner, rather than later. Enjoy, my loves!_

 **Chapter Thirty-Five**

"You got a _bear_? A _whole_ bear?!"

"A whole bear," Jim confirmed, laughing at the astonished expression on Eric's face as his older brother proudly showed off the various cuts of meat tucked into the bear skin that they'd fashioned into a quick sack. He was hoping either Claire or Merlin would be able to use a spell to dry the pelt out, so they could repurpose it as a blanket. The threadbare cloths that the children had scrambled together were filthy and falling apart at the seams. "Although, he was kind of on the skinny side."

"Are you kidding?" Ellie exclaimed, leaping lithely to her feet and throwing her arms around Aiden's shoulders, hugging him tightly. The boy sputtered and cringed as his sister planted several kisses and an affectionate lick to his cheek, more excited than Jim had seen her before. "This is more than we've had in the whole past month together!"

"Oh, El…" Claire sighed from her place still on the floor, her expression twisting in grief as she gently ran her hands through Sven's and Sophie's hair. The two children were sleeping soundly in her lap, their heads tucked into either side of their mother's neck, their hands fisted in the fabric of the shirt she had thrown on once Sophie had eaten her fill. Jim frowned at their pale and clammy complexions, his stomach twisting anxiously.

"Then I think a stew would be good," Merlin interjected with a smirk and a light wave of his staff. A low fire pit materialized out of nowhere in the middle of the room, a bright fire roaring to life. With another wave of his staff, a large, black cauldron appeared in the midst of the glowing coals, clean water bubbling within it.

"Did you summon that from the Dark Ages, Uncle Merlin?" Aiden laughed, rolling his eyes as he put up with a few more kisses and nuzzles from his older sister before she pulled away to take the sack of meat from his hands to look through.

"Summoning through Time is your sister's specialty, it would seem," Merlin chuckled with a wary glance in Ellie's direction.

Ellie grimaced, her face flushing red in embarrassment as she caught the look. Jim didn't miss the way that she looked nervously to Aiden before averting her eyes back to the meat. Jim scented the salt of her tears building and from the guilty look on Aiden's face, he had scented it too.

"El?" Aiden finally said in a soft voice, moving over to his sister's side again, hesitantly lifting a hand to grasp one of hers that still clutched tightly to the pelt. He cocked his head to the side slightly, trying to catch her downturned gaze. "Ellie Wellie?"

Ellie gave a choked laugh, shaking her head slightly. "Don't do that."

"I'm sorry, El," Aiden said, his voice sincere and remorseful. "I'm a jerk, okay? I didn't mean any of that stuff."

"I know," Ellie replied in a pained whisper, still not looking up. "But you were right."

"No, I wasn't," Aiden said firmly, leaning in to nuzzle Ellie's cheek. "You're stronger than all of us. It's because of you that we've made it this far, and it's because of you that we have a chance to make things right. Not even Uncle Merlin can manipulate Time the way you do."

"Which — current circumstances notwithstanding — is highly inadvisable," Merlin interjected with a slight laugh and an uncharacteristically kind smile toward Ellie, who had finally looked up at them. "I would not suggest making a habit of it."

"Like speeding up a bad haircut?" Eric snickered mischievously, and even Aiden gave a short laugh as Ellie's face glowed red again.

"Or slowing down the time it takes for bath water to go cold?" Aiden teased.

"Or—"

"All right, all right!" Ellie squeaked, her expression embarrassed and properly chastised. "I get the point. Though, you weren't complaining when I sped up the time for your broken arm to heal last month, Eric."

The twin grabbed his left forearm with his right hand, a grimace of remembered pain contorting his face.

"How did you break your arm?" Claire gasped, her high-pitched and panicked voice dropping to a whisper at the end as the children in her arms stirred a little. She soothed them with gentle hands and a soft voice until they settled again, and then looked back toward Eric.

"Oh, um…" the red-haired boy stuttered, grabbing his tail and wringing it nervously. "I… I fell down a ravine."

"What?!" Jim gasped, rushing forward to grab Eric, running his hands over the boy's arms and torso worriedly, turning him this way and that to inspect for any injuries. "How did you—?"

"The Spring rains had washed out the embankment," Ellie explained, looking guilty again. "I wanted to get to a safe place to camp before the next night, so I made the decision to keep going through the rains."

"Sven said that he saw a shark in the river!" Eric exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of his feet excitedly, even as Jim took the boy's face in his hands and pressed a kiss to his forehead in relief when he found no evident injuries. "So, I wanted to see it! But the mud slipped out underneath me, and I fell. I tried to catch myself around a root on the way down, but I got all tangled up, and my arm just went _snap_!"

"It was pretty bad," Aiden said with a grimace, stepping away from Ellie and toward Eric, ruffling the younger boy's hair fondly. "We had to set it before Ellie could speed up its healing time, but it was snapped in half and really badly mangled. I, uh… don't be mad…" he added in an awkward tone, glancing between Jim and Claire, his blue face darkening to almost purple as he blushed. "But, um… I broke into a liquor store, and… well, I got him pretty drunk, so that we could set the arm without him remembering too much pain."

"It still _hurt_ ," Eric grumbled with a pout, patiently putting up with Jim's renewed inspections. "And I got really sick later, and my head hurt like crazy."

"You got your 9 year-old brother _drunk_?!" Claire began, her voice quiet, but outraged. Aiden cringed again, looking away from his mother's furious glare.

"Mama," Ellie said, kneeling down to sit on her knees on the floor. She spread the pelt out, beginning to separate the pieces of meat out even as she spoke calmly to her mother. "It was a really bad break, and he was in agony. Trying to set it, without any type of pain killer, would have been torture for him. We did the only thing that we could, and he doesn't remember it."

"I don't, Mama," Eric interjected earnestly. Jim noticed how the boy gripped his previously broken arm a little tighter, but his voice and expression remained open and honest. "I don't remember them setting it, at all, but it hurt really bad before that. When I woke up, the only thing that really hurt bad was my head. And I puked for _two days_!"

Aiden gave a nervous laugh at the glower his mother shot him and ruffled Eric's hair again. "Maybe we shouldn't mention that part, Coffee Cake."

Eric tilted his head up to grin widely at his brother, and Jim couldn't help the fond smile that spread across his lips at Eric's little nickname, as well as the gap of a missing upper fang in the boy's smile. The edges of a new tooth was starting to peek through the gum line. "You're in a better mood."

Aiden cringed lightly, his hand still resting on top of Eric's head. "Yeah… I'm sorry. I was… scared."

"You're always scared," Eric teased, sticking his tongue out at Aiden, who grimaced again. On the floor, Ellie giggled quietly, keeping her eyes on her work.

"You're pushing your luck here, kid," Aiden grumbled, shoving Eric's head back down and dropping his hand back to his side. "Don't make me go find a gigantic spider to drop down your shirt."

Eric cringed, shaking his head frantically with wide eyes. "No!"

"All right," Ellie said, laughing lightly. "That's enough, now. Eric, there's still some of those root vegetables that we found the other night in my pack. They're still good enough to eat, so add them to the water, please. Aiden, give me your knife."

"I'm perfectly capable of using it myself," Aiden grumbled, but reached into his back pocket to pull out the intricate dagger he kept there. He had pulled it out earlier, when he and Jim had taken the bear apart, and Jim had gotten a good look at it. It was clearly Elven in origin, though he hadn't asked where Aiden had gotten it. The metal was not something that he had seen before, the color a deep amber, but glinting like steel. He would have thought it made of copper or bronze except for the glittering sparkle that shimmered and cast dots of rainbow light across the floor and walls when it caught the firelight. Intricate designs and Elven runes were carved smoothly into the metal, which flowed seamlessly into a bone or antler handle. Under the moon, the blade had shown with an almost blue light, not unlike the tips of Aiden's enchanted arrows. It had sliced through the bear with almost no effort, and as Ellie took it from her brother, she sliced several large hunks of meat into bite sized chunks with fluid precision.

"Yes," Ellie replied absently, looking up only long enough to give Aiden a patient smile. "But I know that you hate preparing meat."

"This one was mean," Aiden said, toeing the edge of the pelt with a glare. "You don't want me to repeat the things he was saying."

"Now I'm curious," Jim chuckled, moving to sit by Claire's side as they watched the children go about their tasks. Silently, he scooped Sophie from Claire's embrace and cuddled the toddler into his chest, brushing back her sweat soaked hair with a frown.

Aiden shuffled his feet, shrugging awkwardly. "Um… he was just really… grumpy. Something about not having a mate in a long time… but he was more explicit."

"Ah," Jim said, laughing a little at his son's embarrassment. "I see."

"Wait, wait…" Merlin interjected, a deeply thoughtful frown pulling down at the corners of his mouth as he eyed Ellie closely. "Are you saying that you can manipulate the Timeline of specific objects? Not just displacement?"

"Oh, uh…" Ellie stuttered, looking up at Merlin in slight surprised. "Yes? I mean, displacement is harder. It was exhausting trying to pull you and Mama and Daddy through Time, and I was only trying for Mama and Daddy."

"She nearly fainted, and her nose was bleeding," Sven mumbled, blinking blearily as he struggled into consciousness. Claire wrapped her arms tighter around the boy, rocking him gently in her lap.

"I didn't notice that," Jim said, looking at Ellie in shocked concern while offering his arm to Sven, who was reaching out with his tail. The sickly boy wrapped his tail around Jim's forearm, like he had earlier, but the grip was significantly weaker than before.

"Well, you were kind of out of it and panicked, Daddy," Ellie giggled again, moving to dump the bite-sized cuts of meat into the cauldron with the vegetables that Eric had added.

"I see," Merlin said, his gaze drifting from eyeing Ellie to giving Claire a studying once over. "That explains a bit more."

"What do you mean?" Claire asked, brushing her hands through Sven's hair and pressing a kiss to his forehead. "Why are you giving me that look, Merlin?"

"You nearly lost Ellie, the first time you and Jim were thrown through Time," Merlin replied with a casual shrug. "We assumed it was due to injury, but perhaps that was only part of it. If displacement through Time is so strenuous, it's no wonder she nearly died in utero."

"I nearly _died_?" Ellie gasped, looking between the adults with a horrified expression.

"But you didn't, baby," Jim assured her with a fond smile. "And you were born perfectly healthy."

Ellie relaxed, but still looked a little perturbed. "Okay…"

"As I said," Merlin went on, ignoring the exchanging. "Perhaps it would be best to avoid such extreme outpourings of power. Confident as you are in the little things, let's not preform any more displacements for a while. I'll need to think this over carefully."

"Even Uncle Merlin thinks you're weird," Aiden teased, crouching down by Ellie's side and playfully licking her cheek. She gave him a sour look in response, but he just laughed.

"Weird or not," Ellie began in a miffed voice, turning her nose up stubbornly. "…stew is ready."

"What?" Jim gasped, surprised as the delicious scent of simmering stew immediately filled the room after his daughter finished speaking. Looking back at the cauldron, the once clear water was now bubbling as a deep, amber colored broth, a light covering of froth floating on the top. Snapping his eyes back to his eldest daughter, he couldn't help but feel a stab of annoyance. "Eleanor Juliet, did you just use your magic after being told not to?"

Ellie looked up at Jim, a startled look on her face that quickly morphed into an embarrassed flush. "I… just…"

"Jim," Claire called his name in a soft voice, and Jim turned toward his mate, his annoyance melting away as he saw the patient expression she was giving him. He nodded, relaxing to cradle his toddler closer into his chest, and Claire turned toward the chastised Ellie. "Baby, we only worry for you. Please don't waste your magic on small things like this, especially when you all are so weak, as it is."

"We're just really hungry, Mama," Ellie replied quietly, looking down into her lap. "I wanted to make sure the littles got their food quickly."

"Well, what's done is done," Merlin said, striding forward with a spoon summoned from who knows where. He dipped the spoon into the broth and brought it up to his mouth, slurping the liquid noisily, smacking his lips when he was finished. "Mm… not bad for a rustic meal."

"Wait," Claire said, twisting to reach behind her. Sven groaned as he was shifted in her embrace, his arms tightening around his stomach with a grimace. She murmured a soft apology to him as she turned back, a battered and chipped mug in her hand, which she held out in Ellie's direction. "Add this to the stew, Pumpkin."

" _Mama_ ," Eric whined, scrunching his nose up in disgust, even as his sister rolled her eyes, but obediently stood and came forward to retrieve the cup from her mother. "That's for the _babies_."

"Hush," Jim laughed lightly, recognizing the sweet scent of Claire's milk coming from the cup. "You're all her babies, aren't you? You'll eat it and be grateful for the extra nutrients."

"Ah, best be quick, then," Merlin interjected, quickly dipping a bowl (where the hell had that come from?) into the stew for his own portion before Ellie had the chance to pour the milk in.

" _You're_ not her baby," Eric pouted, giving Jim a petulant glare.

Jim laughed again, rolling his eyes. "Your Mama is my mate. I've had her milk before, love."

"Ew."

"Not _ew_ ," Claire giggled, nodding to Ellie as the girl poured the milk into the stew and stirred it in with a ladle that Merlin had handed to her. Where the heck was he summoning all this cooking ware from?! "Healthy."

"Just shut up and eat, Eric," Aiden said, rolling his eyes as he handed a bowl of stew and spoon to his little brother. The boy hesitated, but then his stomach growled loudly, and he took the food from the older boy.

They all fell into a comfortable silence as bowls of stew were passed around, Aiden, Ellie, and Eric digging in enthusiastically (even if Eric grumbled a bit at first). Claire fed Sven small sips of broth, while Jim tried to rouse Sophie; the toddler blinked up at him weakly as she woke, but turned her face away from the offered spoon when he tried to feed her.

"C'mon, angel," Jim murmured, brushing a kiss to the little one's burning forehead. "It's just some broth. Try a little for Daddy."

"Nuh uh," Sophie grunted, pressing her face into his chest, her little wings shuffling within the blanket she was wrapped in. "Tummy hurts."

"That's because you need to eat a little bit more than just milk," Jim said, shifting his shoulder to force Sophie's face to turn back toward the offered spoon. "C'mon, baby; just a few bites, okay?" Sophie clearly didn't want to, but she opened her mouth obediently at his coaxing, and Jim tilted the spoonful of milky broth against her lips. After a few mouthfuls, the little girl took the food a little more happily, shuffling within her blanket to free her arms and reaching for the spoon herself. "There's my girl. Do you want a bite of meat?"

"Pease," Sophie replied, nodding as her small hands took the spoon from him to suck on. Jim plucked a piece of meat from the bowl of stew with his fingers and popped it into his mouth to chew. When it was soft enough, he took it back out and fed it to the child, who pulled the spoon from her mouth and took the bite of meat with a sudden hunger.

"Careful," Jim teased, playfully jerking his fingers back. "You nearly bit Daddy's fingers off."

"Nuh uh," Sophie shook her head, smiling as she caught his teasing. "My teef aren't dat stwong."

Jim chuckled, licking Sophie's cheek affectionately, before reaching for a vegetable from the stew. "Another bite?"

"Uh huh."

When everyone had eaten their fill (though Jim and Claire hadn't let Sven and Sophie eat too much, so as not to further upset their stomachs), Claire cast another mild healing spell over Sven and Sophie. Despite it nearing dawn — a dusky, gray light filtering through the cracks in the ceiling — the children were beginning to yawn, and even Merlin looked like the long and hectic past few hours were starting to catch up with him as he leaned heavily against his staff.

"We should get moving again," Ellie said, though her eyelids were heavy and she was slumping where she sat against the wall. "We've been here for two days already."

"Are you going some place specific?" Claire asked, gently brushing Sven's hair back as he and Eric cuddled together on her lap, their tails twisting and playing together. Sven was looking perkier after his meal, but still pale and a little clammy. Sophie, in Jim's arms, was also looking a little better, though she had already fallen back asleep. "Or are you just wandering?"

"Oh," Ellie said, suddenly wide awake at the question, her face burning a sudden and bright red. "Um… there's an Elven clan in the mountains here. We're trying to meet up with them."

Aiden snickered, sitting next to his older sister and nudging her shoulder with his. "Better tell Mama and Daddy the truth now, before they get surprised."

"Shut up," Ellie hissed, glaring at Aiden and shoving him back.

Jim raised an eyebrow expectantly. "El?"

"My… boyfriend… is part of the clan," Ellie admitted in a shy and strained voice, staring down at the floor.

" _B-boyfriend_?" Jim repeated, his voice cracking and more higher pitched than he would have liked in his shock. He suddenly felt very sick to his stomach, even as Aiden and the twins snickered mischievously.

"It's the ears," Aiden laughed, pulling the pointed tips of his own ears to stretch them further back. "She thinks they're hot."

"And the tattoos," Eric giggled, using his fingertips to draw invisible swirls across his face.

"And his—"

"Okay, _shut up_ ," Ellie growled, glowering at the boys as they teased her and laughed. "I don't love him for just his _looks_ , okay?"

" _Love_?" Jim squeaked again, his heart beginning to pound with the whine building in the back of his throat. "But… no, no, no… you're just a little girl!"

"Jim," Claire said, a light laugh in her voice at his panic, even though he could tell that she was a little uncomfortable with the subject too. "Honey, she's 16."

"Exactly!" Jim sputtered, turning wide eyes to his wife. "What did _we_ do at 16?!"

"I'm not… I mean, we're not…" Ellie mumbled, her face becoming redder by the second. "It's not like we're mated, Daddy."

"Oh, Deya, don't say that word," Jim groaned, ignoring the laughter in the room as his stomach twisted anxiously.

"He's all right, Daddy," Aiden chuckled, giving his sister a fond and playful smile before looking back to Jim. "We're just teasing her, but he's actually a good guy. He and Ellie are the same age, and we've known him and his clan since she and I were still little."

"Finn's clan is kind of weird, though," Sven grumbled, sniffling and wiping his nose with the back of his arm. "They won't ever let us play with their kids."

"They're just cautious," Ellie said in a soft voice, her face becoming a little less red as she smiled at her little brother's petulant pouting. "They're the last Elven clan — at least in the United States. You can't blame them for being protective."

"What're we gonna do?" Eric snorted, rolling his eyes. "Teach them how to say bad words in Trollish?"

"Well, you wouldn't know any, would you?" Claire said in firm voice, giving Eric a stern look, playfully tugging the hair at the base of the boy's neck.

"Um…" Eric giggled nervously, shooting a sly smile toward Aiden, who shook his head slightly, his eyes wide. "Of course not, Mama."

Claire sighed and rolled her eyes, turning to smirk at Jim. "You _had_ to give me boys, hm?"

Jim smirked, pride filling his chest. "I'm pretty sure that you won't be complaining during the production process."

"Okay, can you please refrain from trying to make Aiden right this second?" Ellie said, amusement and disgust in her face and expression. Beside her, Aiden's face went completely purple as he blushed furiously.

Claire laughed, shushing the twins in her lap as they looked up at her, the expressions on their faces clearly questioning. "Hush, now. Daddy will explain all of this to you when you're older."

Jim rolled his eyes and then barked out a laugh when Eric — with a cheeky grin — replied after a few seconds with, "We're older now than we were a minute ago. Do we get an explanation _now_?"

"I would be happy to—"

"No, Merlin," Jim interrupted the wizard's keen offer with a stern look. To his slight surprise, the old man chuckled, shaking his head.

"Those two remind me of you, James," Merlin said after a moment, nodding to the snickering twins curled up on their mother's lap.

Jim raised an eyebrow at the old man, amused. "Really? How so?"

"It was not so long ago when you were the ever curious one," Merlin explained with a fond, wistful smile.

"I was trying to learn a whole new existence in under nine months," Jim laughed, shooting an affectionate smile at Ellie, who looked a little surprised. "I didn't know the first thing about what _I_ was, let alone what Ellie was going to be."

"Yes," Merlin laughed softly, shaking his head. "Even Arthur had never peppered me with so many questions in such a short amount of time. _Why me? Why was I the one chosen? Why do I do this? How does this magic work? Am I exactly like a troll? Why are some parts of me still so human? Why do I think this way? Why are these instincts so intense? What will she look like? Will she have instincts like me? How do I teach a child about herself when I'm just as lost?_ So very many questions; and those were only the ones you were asking _me_! I daresay that you probably bombarded Blinkous with even more!"

"Hm," Jim hummed, a fondly thoughtful smile curving his mouth as he remembered those stressful first few weeks and months after becoming a troll. The battle and the sudden upheaval and moving of their pack had pressed back any extremely important questions about himself for awhile, but once Claire had become pregnant, those questions pressed themselves to the forefront again. He was hardly confident in himself back then (not that he was a ball of confidence now, either), and his existence — and his child's existence — was confusing and concerning. There were simple things that he had asked Blinky about troll existence, of course, but seeing as Merlin was the one who changed Jim into what he was now, he had figured that the wizard would be the most knowledgable about what his life would be like now. "Better to ask the creator about his creation, right?"

Merlin rolled his eyes, still leaning tiredly against his staff. "I did not _create_ you, my boy. I merely enhanced what was already there, however minimal it was. You should thank me, you know."

" _Thank you_?" Jim repeated incredulously, laughing again. "You do realize, regardless of the positive results, that you bullied me into making a life altering decision under the duress of impending war?"

"It worked out."

"I was 16!"

"And it worked out."

"Ugh," Jim huffed playfully and rolled his eyes, giving the wizard a patient smirk. "Why do I put up with you?"

"I have my uses, I imagine," the old man chuckled, giving his own self-satisfied smirk. "For example, you have yet to give your new charm a try."

"Huh?" Jim asked, and then looked down at his bracelet when Merlin looked pointedly at the object. "You haven't told me the enchantment yet."

" _Andra_ ," Ellie, Aiden, Eric, and Sven all said at once, breaking into giggles when they realized that they had all answered together.

Jim chuckled, shaking his head in amusement and tightened his arms slightly around the sleeping Sophie in his lap. "I'll try it later. Right now, I think we should get a couple of hours of sleep before heading out again."

"We've been here too long—" Ellie started again, but Claire interrupted her with a soft laugh.

"Pumpkin, you can barely keep your eyes open," she said, shaking her head a little. "You are all exhausted. You need a few hours' sleep, or you'll be vulnerable while traveling."

"I concur," Merlin advised, barely stifling his own yawn. "My wards are strong enough to dissuade any unwanted visitors. We should rest now, and set out later, around midday. Our friends from the Shadow Realm are likelier to be more active during the night, anyway; correct?"

Ellie frowned, not looking too happy with being overruled, but she nodded, glancing around at her drowsy siblings. The twins, especially, were giving her very pleading eyes, to which she laughed and rolled her own. "Oh, all right… as long as Daddy makes the nest!"

"What's wrong with _my_ nest making?" Aiden questioned indignantly, mock offense contorting his expression as he looked between his laughing siblings.

"They suck," Eric said, snickering. He gave a surprised yelp when Claire made a sharp tug to the hair at the base of his neck.

"Language," she warned, raising a daring eyebrow down at the boy, who only giggled guiltily.

"You don't make the blankets soft enough," Sven grumbled teasingly, sticking his tongue out.

"You give Sophie most of the blankets," Ellie said, giving Aiden a sly smile and a shake of her head at his surprised expression. "Yes, we notice."

"She's littler," Aiden grinned, shrugging without guilt. "The rest of us can tough it out."

"We're little too!" Eric protested indignantly, scrunching his nose up at his older brother. "We might freeze to death!"

"You two have been cuddling together since before you were born!" Aiden laughed, rolling his eyes. "You couldn't freeze to death in a snow storm as long as you have each other."

As if to prove that point, the two red-headed boys braided their tails together tightly, in a move that was swift and well-practiced. Jim couldn't help the fond ache in his heart to see the bond between the two, which was so different from their bond with the other children, though no less loving.

"All right," Jim said with a chuckle, standing carefully and then moving forward to slip Sophie into Claire's lap, so that the sleeping toddler was cuddled between her two brothers. Eric and Sven unwound their tails briefly enough to let their sister settle down, and then wound them back together over top of her, almost protectively. Straightening himself up, he moved to the bear pelt, which was still stretched out in front of Ellie, a handful of raw meat strips still resting out on it. "What do you think, Merlin? Do you know a spell that can dry this pelt out to use as a blanket? And maybe turn the leftover meat into jerky?"

"Do I look like a cook to you, lad?" Merlin scoffed, but despite his words, he was already standing to his full height, his staff beginning to glow a bright, neon green. "Stand back, lest you'd like to experience life as a mummy."

"Daddies can't be mummies," Eric snickered teasingly, and the other children groaned and rolled their eyes at the joke.

" _Boys_ ," Claire muttered under her breath with a playful scowl and Jim tossed her a proud grin.

"And beautiful daughters too," he reminded her, laughing teasingly.

"You love us, Mama," Eric said knowingly, tilting his head up to give Claire's chin an affectionate lick. She laughed again, leaning down to nuzzle the boy sweetly, and then did the same for his twin, who smiled happily and nuzzled her back.

"Of course, I do," Claire murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of each of the twins' head. "Though, I suspect you'll give me more white hair than brown."

Before anything more could be said, there was a sudden burst of magic as Merlin waved his staff over the pelt and strips of meat. A flash of green light momentarily blinded Jim, and for a few seconds, his tongue felt like sandpaper in his mouth, suddenly so _unbearably_ thirsty… and then the light cleared, and his mouth and throat were moist again. He swallowed thickly against the memory of the sensation of dryness, and as he looked around, he noticed the others swallowing with uncomfortable expressions, rubbing their necks and mouths.

"There you are," Merlin said, clearing his own throat with a scratchy sounding cough. He gestured with his now dormant staff toward the perfectly cured pelt and meat on the floor. "A fine blanket, I think. I might have overdone the meat, however, but it's still edible."

"It even smells nice," Ellie said, moving over to the pelt picking it up. She held it to her face, breathing deeply. "Like… lavender."

"Yes, well… furs do tend to carry the scent of death on them, however faded," Merlin shrugged. "I figure the scent of death is already strong enough in this wretched reality, so I covered it up a bit."

Ellie gave Merlin a brilliant smile, and then gathered the large pelt up into her arms. Rushing over to Jim, the girl pressed the fur into his arms excitedly. "You make the best nests, Daddy."

"You do, Hon," Claire laughed, biting her lip against a laugh.

"Oh?" Jim teased, raising an eyebrow at his mate. "What's your basis for comparison? Have you been testing out someone else's nests?"

"Fair point," Claire chuckled, shrugging only slightly enough to not jostle the sleeping toddler nestled between her brothers on her lap. "But I've always slept the best when you make the bed, love."

"All right," Jim replied with a smirk and an amused shake of his head. "Get your other blankets."

Ellie and Aiden both immediately did as asked, moving around the room to gather together the threadbare cloths and ragged blankets that they had apparently been using to keep warm as they slept. In the meantime, Jim spread the pelt out in the middle of the room, a few feet back from the fire. He had been a skinny bear, but the size of his pelt suggested that he had — at one time — likely been the top bear in the forest; it was more than big enough to fit all of his family comfortably. The children must have all been more tired than they let on, because when Jim sat back on his calves to admire his work, the twins immediately jumped from their mother's lap and dove into blankets, burrowing into the middle and each other, like little nesting rabbits. Laughing, Aiden and Ellie followed suit, each on either side of a twin, hugging the boys between them protectively. Happy purrs were beginning to vibrate from the mess of blankets, and Jim laughed thickly, his throat pinching in emotion. He felt an answering combination of amusement and grief flow along his bond with his mate, and he caught her eye with a sad smile as she stood to her feet, the still sleeping Sophie cradled in her arms.

"Well, that's the happiest I've seen you lot all evening," Merlin yawned, leaning his back against the corner wall and sliding down to sit against it, clutching his staff between his upturned his knees. The old man closed his eyes and was snoring softly only a few seconds later.

Jim chuckled and shook his head, standing to his feet and moving to wrap his arms around his wife and youngest daughter. Leaning his forehead against Claire's, he breathed in her calming scent and allowed his shoulders to un-tense a little. Lifting his hand to cup her cheek, Jim brushed his thumb gently across his mate's bottom lip, sighing happily when she pressed a brief kiss to the passing digit. "Get some sleep, Claire."

"What about you?" Claire murmured, leaning into his touch, pressing their toddler between them gently.

"I honestly feel like I've done nothing _but_ sleep for the past month," Jim admitted, bending slightly to press a soft kiss to Sophie's forehead. The fever was still there, but significantly less, and she was no longer clammy to the touch. "I'm okay, baby. You rest with the children, and I'll keep watch. I… have a lot to think about."

Claire looked like she wanted to argue, but bit her lip and nodded reluctantly, only giving a slight smile when her gaze shifted to the twins, Ellie, and Aiden, all of whom had fallen quickly and deeply asleep already. "They're beautiful, aren't they?"

"Well, they're half you, so of course they are," Jim replied with a teasing laugh, pressing a lick to his mate's cheek when she turned back to give him an impatient glower.

"I can't…" Claire started after a moment of silence, her voice trembling and barely a whisper. Grief and fear were overpowering her, and her arms tightened around the toddler in her arms. "I can't lose another one, Jim. I can't…"

"We _won't_ ," Jim promised, hugging her tightly and pressing a lick across her trembling lips.

"They said… the baby…"

"I _won't_ let that happen," Jim growled, feeling her fear and reciprocating with his own, though he tried to overpower it with confidence. "We're going to change this, and they will be safe. _All of them_ , and you too."

"And you?" Claire prompted, sensing the slight uncertainty in his emotions. "Will you be safe too?"

"Well, I don't exactly _want_ to die," Jim replied sarcastically, evading the question that they both knew the answer to.

"Jim."

"I don't want to die," Jim repeated, sighing in defeat. "I don't want Ellie or any of our children to ever become the Trollhunter. I don't _want_ that, but… if I have to give my life to save you and them, then I will do it without regret."

"Promise me that's only an absolute last resort, okay?" Claire demanded, tilting her head up to catch his lips in hers. When she released him and leaned back, he pressed his forehead back to hers, hugging her and their child gently to his chest. "And remember that I am _not_ helpless. I am your mate, your wife, and your partner — my place is by your side in life _and_ in battle."

Jim couldn't reply to that, because she was both right and wrong. She was a strong and capable sorceress, and he valued and depended on her and her abilities when in battle… but she was also a mother. Given the narrative Aiden had provided him with, Jim could only guess that at the time of his future self's death, Claire was heavily pregnant; she would not have been able to fight by his side, nor would he want her to, in such a condition.

"I love you," he whispered harshly, instead, tilting his head down again to press a desperate kiss to her mouth. She kissed him back almost as desperately, but they broke apart laughing when the little body between them began to squirm uncomfortably.

"Want kisses too," Sophie mumbled sleepily, reaching up with one hand, while sticking the thumb of her other hand into her mouth.

Jim and Claire both grinned and pressed their mouths to either side of the little girl's face, her little cheeks puffing slightly as they squished her gently between their kisses.

 _I won't let this happen_ , Jim thought, his heart thrumming and brimming with love as the toddler giggled between them. _I don't want to die, but if I die ensuring their safety…_ but Time was fickle, and Jim knew that. He could not accept death, knowing that doing so would prevent most of his children from even existing, in the first place.

"An absolute last resort," he promised, finally, when they pulled back from the child, and Claire smiled back at him in relief as she sensed the resolute truth of his words.

" _Thank you_."

 _To be continued..._

✧ ✩ **_PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!_** ✩ ✧


	36. Chapter Thirty-Six

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

➳ _Enjoy, my loves!_

 **Chapter Thirty-Six**

Jim was too nervous to try changing into his human form _and_ walking into the sun again at the same time, despite the others' enthusiastic encouragement. Even all of the kids' apparent immunity to the dangerous affects of the sun failed to reassure him. Even Aiden and Sophie, who were the most troll-like out of all of the children, seemed completely unaffected by the sun's light. Instead, it had taken Jim a few minutes of psyching himself up to even set foot passed the protective shade provided by what had remained of the church's roof. He had laughed at his own fear, remembering when he had been the one trying to coax a nervous Blinky out into the sun; he'd thought that he had understood his foster father's fear and nervousness then, but he realized now that he hadn't even come close. Knowing from personal experience of the excruciating pain and possible death that even so much as a stray sun beam could cause was very different than observing the process as an outsider. In the end, it had taken Aiden casually walking up behind him, throwing a kind arm around his shoulders… and then giving Jim a harsh shove out into the light.

The poisoned darkness that spread from the Shadow Realm breach seemed to have targeted human populations first, because where they were in the mountains remained, not untouched, but far more clean of the stuff than the human town that Jim, Claire, and Merlin had awoken in. Spidery, black vines spread sparsely along the ground and up various tree trunks, attempting to poison the world around them; but it was Spring here, and the trees and grass and flowers were budding and blooming brightly, Mother Nature fighting back against the invasion with all she had. Even the mountain streams that they came across were relatively untouched, the water cool, clear, and clean, much to Claire's pleasure, who insisted the children wash some of the dirt and grime from themselves. Jim and Merlin laughed at their clear displeasure at this request, and Jim, himself, ended up more than a little drenched while trying to wrestle the twins still enough to, at the very least, wipe their faces clean.

"My feet hurt," Sophie whined, dragging her feet slowly as they walked through the warm forest. She paused for a moment, screwed up her face in concentration, and started flapping her wings furiously. They all stopped to watch as the 4-year-old lifted off of the ground by a few inches… and then flopped back down, stumbling as she landed. She sniffled once, twice, and then burst into tears. "I wanna go home!"

"Oh, mia bebé," Claire cooed, bending to swoop the crying toddler into her arms, rubbing her back and shushing her gently. "We can't go home. You have to be a big girl for Mama and Daddy, okay? We'll stop and rest in a little while."

Sophie sniffled, still crying, but calmed a little. Sticking her thumb in her mouth, she nodded and laid her head down on Claire's shoulder. "'kay…"

"Here," Jim murmured, stepping up to his mate's side and offering his arms out for the child. He'd seen how she had winced when she stood up, her body unused to carrying the heavier weight of a toddler, let alone while trekking through mountainous areas. Gratefully, Claire shifted Sophie into his arms, the child flowing with the movement willingly, wrapping her free arm around his neck and her legs around his torso. Nuzzling the child sweetly, he murmured to her quietly, "Daddy will carry you for a little bit."

"Are we even going the right way, El?" Aiden said in a quiet aside to his older sister, his voice a mixture of concern, frustration, and forced calm.

Ellie frowned, twisting the ancient looking map in her hands this way and that to find her bearings. Jim had noticed the shimmer of magic overlaid on the canvas when she had first pulled it out, and she had shown him the two magical sparks floating on top of the drawn landscape, one bright red (them) and the other a bright green (the hidden Elven camp). The green spark was relatively stationary, while the red spark moved as they moved, slowly drawing closer to the green spark. According to Ellie, they had been extremely close three nights ago, but then the green spark had moved inland by nearly 20 miles overnight, which suggested that the move had been emergent.

"We were afraid," Ellie had said when Jim had asked about it. "Aiden and I had been talking about trying to summon you and Mama through Time for a while, but when the camp moved so suddenly, that's when we decided to try. We thought that if we could pull you from when just before the Shadow Realm was breached, you would know what to do to fix everything; but I was too scared, and I put too much power behind it, and I ended up reaching too far back."

"I think that's actually a good thing, this time," Jim had replied. "Things are already stirring in our own Time, which means this was all being put into motion even before _you_ were born. The earlier we can stop this, the better."

"I _think_ so," Ellie said, breaking Jim from his thoughts as she responded to Aiden's question. "We're getting closer, at least."

"How much _longer_?" Eric groaned, spotting a mud puddle and purposefully jumping into it, mud splattering all over himself and Sven, who was never very far from his twin. The two giggled, and Claire sighed, throwing her arms up in defeat.

"I don't know," Ellie snapped, stomping her foot as she looked up to glare at the boys. "If they don't move again, _maybe_ we might find them before dawn."

"We… you…" Aiden stuttered, his eyes wide and nervous as he stared at his sister. "You want to travel at night?"

"Aiden, we were lucky to even find that church," Ellie replied in an understanding, but apologetic voice. "Even if we don't travel through the night, we'll still be out in the open. At least, if we're moving, we won't be taken by surprise."

"But…" Aiden's fear was so obvious that not even the twins were willing to tease him about it. "Ellie, I can't…"

"You can," Jim interjected, shifting Sophie to his hip so that he could reach over and grasp Aiden's hand lightly. "Think of it this way: now, there's two Trollhunters and twice the protection."

"Uncle Merlin, can't you just zap us there?" Sven asked, running up to the old man and tugging on his arm with muddy hands.

"I'm afraid that my _zapping_ isn't quite as fine tuned as you think it is, my boy," Merlin chuckled, letting Sven swing on his arm for a moment before gently pushing the boy away. "Besides, your feet look strong enough to walk a few more miles, yes? Be lucky you weren't born until _after_ we had to walk all the way across country — and your mother pregnant, at that!"

"You walked all the way across the country with Ellie inside you?" Eric asked Claire, his eyes wide.

"Yes," Claire laughed, her hands jumping to her flat stomach as she remembered. Jim saw the slight twist of grief in her sad smile and felt the emotion along their bond. "I became pregnant with Ellie right after we left California, and I was almost 7 months along when we settled in New Jersey."

"So…" Sven's expression scrunched up in thought as he looked his mother up and down. "So, then… you and Daddy are really young right now? Like, the same age Ellie is now?"

Jim laughed, catching Aiden's eye and laughing harder to see his purple blush. "We're 17, love."

"That's weird," Sven said with a confused pout and Jim laughed again, reaching over to ruffle the boy's hair. He grinned up at Jim, and then turned back to Claire, running up to her and catching one of her hands in his. "Was Ellie heavy?"

"Hey!" Ellie protested, blushing furiously.

"Well, she started out smaller than a seed, didn't she?" Claire replied, smiling down at the boy. "And when she was born, she was only a little more than 5 pounds."

"You two were heavier for Mama to carry than any of us," Aiden teased, sticking his tongue out at Sven and then Eric. "Her ankles were almost always swollen, the whole time!"

This hadn't seemed to occur to Sven, whose expression twisted again as he thought, and then he looked back up at Claire, his bottom lip slipping into a slight pout. "I'm sorry, Mama."

"Oh, mi amor," Claire laughed, cupping the boy's face in her hands and pressing a series of kisses to his face. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

This didn't seem to make Sven feel better, for some reason, and he clung to Claire's hand tighter as they continued to walk. Hours passed slowly as they walked, stopping once by a stream to rest and eat. Ellie consulted her map a few more times, making sure they were traveling in the right direction, and Jim kept an eye on Eric as he ran ahead and back again excitedly. The boy seemed to be the more expressive of the two, and certainly the one who started and got into all of the trouble, and Jim did not want to chance his son getting too excited and wandering too far, especially since evening twilight was swiftly encroaching on them.

"Eric, stay close," he warned the red-head after the fifth time the child had sprung out of a bush seated in the opposite direction that he had first run off in.

"I'm scouting," Eric replied, throwing his arms in a brief hug around Jim's waist, and then running off again.

"Scout closer!" Jim called after him, shaking his head, his hand tightening on Sophie's as she walked slowly by his side. Her feet were starting to drag again, and he suspected that it wouldn't be long before she would be asking to be carried once more. "Eric, don't make me come after you!"

Claire laughed, shaking her head, her own hand still held in Sven's, who hadn't wanted to wander off with his twin, or very far from his mother at all. "I think you just uttered your first Dad-ism, mi amor."

"Oh, good," Jim joked, leaning over to catch his mate's lips in a chaste kiss. "Let's remember to put that in the baby book."

"It's gone!"

"Huh?"

They came to a sudden stop, and Jim looked toward Ellie, his stomach clenching in sudden nerves as he heard the shocked panic in her voice. She was staring down at her map, eyes wide and mouth agape as she paled. She was turning the map around this way and that, unfolding hidden flaps to extend the drawn landscape, but the more she looked, the more panicked she became.

"It's _gone_!" she gasped again, her voice trembling and thick with tears.

"The camp?!"

"But it was just right there!"

"Well, it's not now!" Ellie cried, letting Aiden snatch the map from her to look over himself. She dropped her face into her hands, her shoulders shaking as she cried. "It's not anywhere!"

"Maybe they're moving again?" Claire suggested in a soothing tone, releasing Sven's hand to pull Ellie into a comforting hug.

Ellie moved into her mother's embrace, shaking her head. "No, we would still see it, then. It would just be moving. Oh, Deya… they've been attacked! They're all dead!"

"Jumping to conclusions will get us nothing, but hysterics, child," Merlin said, looking over Aiden's shoulder as they studied the map. "Hm… this type of magic is strong. It's connected to an identical map with the same charm placed on it, yes? So, the possessor of the other map is able to see the location of its twin?"

Ellie nodded, leaning back from Claire's embrace and wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. "Yes. Finn has the other one. You gave them to us, Uncle Merlin."

"I did?" Merlin asked, cocking his head to the side curiously. "Or, I suppose, 'I will?' is the more appropriate query."

Ellie gave a watery, sad laugh, but nodded again. "Yes. A few weeks before…"

"Ah," Merlin replied, his tone uncomfortable as he realized the implication of the girl's words. "My many years have caught up with me, have they?"

"You went with Daddy to help him fight," Sven sniffled, running up to Claire's side and grabbing her hand again. "Neither of you came back."

Jim and Merlin shared a frightened look, Jim's heart beginning to pound heavily in his throat. If this creature could defeat both Jim _and_ Merlin at once, how were they ever going to find a way to destroy it?

Before anything more could be said, they all jumped in surprised fright when a pain filled scream shot out in the distance.

"What the…?"

"Eric?!" Jim called out, realizing that the rambunctious child hadn't come back yet. His stomach clenched in fear when no answer returned, and he scooped Sophie up quickly, only to turn and shove her into Aiden's arms. "All of you, stay here!"

And then Jim was running through the forest, his Amulet coming to life and summoning his armor around him without thought. He picked up Eric's coffee-like scent quickly, following it for at least a mile — _how_ had the child gotten so far in so little time?! — before he stopped dead in his tracks as the acrid scent of blood assaulted his senses.

"Eric?!" Jim shouted again, his heart hammering, and his voice high in panic. He swirled around in a circle, looking desperately in every direction, but only bare forest was laid out before him in every direction. "Eric Lake, you answer me right now! _Eric_!" There was a shuffling sound from some bushes to his right, and Jim spun around, Daylight forming in his grip, held high and ready to strike at the unseen predator. The scent of his son's blood was stronger in this direction, and fear and rage shot through him, unlike any he had ever felt before. "I don't care what or who you are, if you take my son from me, I'll—"

"D-Daddy!"

Jim grunted in surprise as Eric rematerialized out of thin air, having been hiding invisibly, and flung his arms around his waist with a pained cry. He seemed to be struggling against something from inside the bush that had hold of his leg, and he was crying and whimpering in pain.

"Eric," Jim sighed in relief, placing Daylight on its holding place on his back, not quite at ease enough to let the weapon or his armor dissipate. He dropped to his knees and pulled the boy's upper body into as tight a hug as he could manage with Eric being held back by something. Jim ducked his head, licking instinctively at the boy's teary and snotty face. " _What_ did I say about staying close?"

"I'm s-s-sorry!" Eric cried, his hands hooking desperately into the grooves of Jim's arm guards. "I just wanted to e-ex-explore!"

"What's got you?" Jim asked, not willing to chastise the boy when he was so distraught. He leaned forward around Eric to push the bush aside and cringed at what he saw. His son's small ankle was trapped in a rusty, but strong bear trap, the metal teeth nearly biting the appendage clean off. His ankle and bare foot were oozing blood and splinters of crushed bone were exposed and protruding through the skin. "Oh, God, baby…"

"I'm g-g-going to d-d-d-die!" Eric wailed, snot bubbling from his nose as he cried hard enough to make himself gag.

"Shh…" Jim soothed, kissing and licking the boy's face again. "You are not going to die. We'll get your leg free, and I can heal it, okay? You'll be good as new."

"Do I have to get drunk again?" Eric whimpered, his eyes wide and his cheeks taking on a slightly green tinge.

Jim chuckled, shaking his head. "No, baby… but it's going to hurt when I release the trap."

"It hurts _now_!" Eric cried, sobbing again. He was tugging on Jim's breastplate, seemingly dissatisfied with being unable to cuddle into something soft and warm, but Jim was still too tense and on guard to release his armor. The sun was beginning to set, and they were alone in the wild, the strong scent of blood around them, and anything could think to attack what they would perceive as an easy meal. "I d-d-don't wanna be here, anymore! I don't w-wanna keep walking! I don't wanna go to Finn's cl-clan! I wanna go _home_!"

"I know," Jim sighed, rubbing his son's back gently as the boy cried and vented, in pain and angry and thoroughly fed up with all that had been happening to him and his siblings. Jim let him, knowing that the child had reached his breaking point, despite his previously cheerful and mischievous personality. Eric was only 9, after all, and had been dealing with all of this death and darkness as best as he could for months. To have kept up such a positive attitude in the face of all that was admirable, but he was still a child, and Jim knew that he'd reached his limit. "I know, honey. You've been so brave, love; please just be brave for a little longer, okay? Mama and I are here now, and we aren't going to let anything happen to you. We're going to find out what happened and fix it, so that you will never have to go through any of this."

"But we already went through it!" Eric sobbed, his chest heaving as he became more upset. "It's happened for us already!"

"I know," Jim repeated, tears springing to his eyes and his throat pinching in emotion. He nuzzled into Eric's soft, red hair, rocking the boy gently in his arms. "I know, baby. I don't want this for you. I want you to be safe. I'm so sorry."

Eric's only response was to wail louder, and Jim could only hug him tighter, his tears finally spilling over to wet his son's hair. Unable to quiet or soothe the boy, or himself, he reached around the clinging child as best he could and examined the trap, wiping his tears away with the back of his hand to see better. It took a minute of searching, between the darkening light and the coating of thick rust on the metal, but he thankfully found the release mechanism to be still intact, though it looked like he would have to smash it to break through the rust. Jim cringed, knowing that Eric would be in agony through the process, and would likely scream his head off even louder than he was currently crying. He wished that he was better at spell casting, so that he could at least put the child to sleep, but Jim didn't even know the word, let alone how much power to put behind it. Sleeping spells were exceptionally dangerous to attempt, he knew; too much power would cause the person to sleep like the dead.

A few months ago, when Ellie had been having a particularly rough few days — between her horns growing in and a bought of colic — she had cried for hours, refusing to sleep. Both he and Claire had been exhausted, so Jim had taken the infant down into the Market Center to walk around with her, trying to lull her into sleep and allowing his mate to get some of her own, in the meantime. It had been the middle of the day, and most of the trolls had been asleep (except for a few rowdy members down at the pub), so Jim hadn't felt too bad about bothering the neighbors with his screaming child. As he walked, he'd spoken quietly to the baby, murmuring stories in her ear in the hopes that the sound of his voice and the motion would soothe her. When he'd rounded by the pub a fourth time, whispering the tale of Sleeping Beauty to the child, Merlin had surprised him by popping out of the pub to walk by his side. Jim had only paused for a second, but continued on walking and talking when the wizard had given him an encouraging smile. When the tale was over, the old man had made some interesting comments on how the story wasn't completely make believe and there were spells — like the one that had trapped Morgana — that could cause a person to sleep indefinitely. Accidentally putting too much power behind a basic sleeping spell was the most common reason that such instances occurred, so unless one knew exactly what they were doing, it was best to avoid casting such a spell altogether.

Grimacing in guilt at what he was about to do, Jim tucked Eric's face into his neck, tightening his arm around the boy's back and shoulders and reached down with his other hand to disengage a glaive from his thigh. "Eric, I need to break the mechanism, so you need to hold very still, okay?"

Eric shook his head, his sobbing growing louder. "N-n-no! I don't wanna! I want Mama!"

" _Eric_ ," Jim growled firmly, not wanting to be harsh, but realizing that he would have to be, for the child's own sake. "Mama and your siblings are waiting alone for us. The more you struggle, the more time this is going to take, and the longer you're going to be in pain, so _sit still_."

Eric froze in place, clamping his lips together, a pitiful whimper escaping his throat, but nodded. He remained still, save for a light tremor in his arms, and Jim hugged him tighter, murmuring a quiet apology in the boy's slightly pointed ear. Not allowing time enough to pass for either of them to lose their nerve, he flipped the glaive around in his hand, the narrower end pointed downward, tightened his grip, and then smashed the weapon down against the rusted over locking mechanism as hard as he could. A second of resistance bit back at his blow, and then a burst of Daylight coursed from the Amulet and through the etchings in Jim's armor, traveling down his arm and into the glaive in his fist. Under the onslaught, the rust and metal of the trap cracked, shattered, and then fell apart into a million tiny shards and pieces.

Eric sucked in a sharp breath as his leg was released, silent in shock. It seemed like an eternity, but could have only been a few seconds, and then the excruciating pain must have rushed back to him, because he started to scream, just as Jim had predicted he would. Before he could try and hush the child, Eric lurched further into Jim's embrace and buried his face into the small space on his neck that was not guarded by armor, and bit down with every bit of strength he must have possessed.

Jim seized up in shock, not used to someone biting him, other than his mate, and — obviously — those were meant in a completely different context than this. He wasn't aroused, of course, but it was still shocking to have someone else's teeth buried into his flesh, though the child didn't have enough strength to do real damage, despite his single lower fang digging pointedly into the edge of Jim's clavicle.

"It's all right," Jim murmured quietly after a moment, swallowing back his nerves and letting his glaive dissipate back into his armor. Moving his hand to gently hover over the child's broken and shredded ankle, he silently called on his magic, allowing it to flow through himself and his armor. It was easier, Jim found, to let the Amulet and his armor act as a conduit for his natural magic, as opposed to trying to cast it freely. He wondered if this was how Claire had felt when she had used the Shadow Staff, or when she used the Moonlight Bow now.

Eric's foot was truly only hanging on by a few shreds of skin, muscle, and tendon, the bone crushed and splintered to bits. It was a wonder that the boy hadn't bled out entirely by the time Jim had found him, but he could only guess that he had enough troll in him to bear such an injury much better than a human would. Still, it hurt just as much, and Jim's heart lurched in his chest at the muffled screaming vibrating against his throat, the child's teeth digging harder into his flesh.

"Shh…" Jim breathed, pressing his lips against Eric's wet cheek. At the same time, he closed his eyes in concentration, letting the warm magic that had gathered in his palm disperse into his son's leg. "Läka."

Beneath his hand, Jim could feel the bone and skin shifting and knitting back together slowly. Over the minutes, Eric's agonized screams lessened, turning into gasps, sobs, and whimpers instead, and the child's teeth gradually loosened their hold on his neck. Jim continued to pour healing magic into his son's injury, perhaps even longer than was necessary, but he wanted to make sure that Eric would be able to have full use of his leg again, without any pain or soreness to hinder his ability to walk and run. As it was, the boy had already lost a lot of blood, which he could do nothing about; Jim could heal the injury, but Eric's body would need to recover the blood he'd lost on its own. He could feel the shaky weakness in the way Eric's arms trembled, his whole complexion almost gray and his lips a slight blue. The only slight comfort was that, as the pain eased, Eric's eyelids drooped sleepily, and he laid his head tiredly against Jim's shoulder, his breathing becoming deep and calm. The occasional whimper still escaped him, and he would jerk awake with a gasp just before truly falling asleep, but Jim ignored that, concentrating solely on healing the child's grievous injury.

"Daddy," Eric whispered after at least fifteen minutes, in a weak and sleepy voice. He leaned up slightly as he spoke, so that his lips brushed Jim's ear. "M'okay now. You can stop."

"No," Jim said, his stomach turning as he smelled his child's blood thick in the air around them. He was becoming dizzy with the outpouring of his magic, and he could feel his hold on his Amulet slipping. "I have to—"

 _Jim, you must stop_.

" _No_ ," Jim growled, squeezing his eyes shut in concentration as he ignored Ywain's voice in his head. "I have to — he has to be safe."

"I _am_ safe, Daddy," Eric whispered, seemingly unfazed by the fact that Jim was clearly not speaking to him. Either the boy was too exhausted to realize it, or he knew about Ywain and recognized when Jim spoke to the bodiless soul. "Daddy, _you'll_ get hurt, if you use up all your magic."

 _James Lake, Jr., your offspring speaks true_ , Ywain warned, a tone of annoyance in his voice. _You wish to protect him, yes? Then do not squander your ability to do so. The child is healed. Stop casting_.

"Daddy," Eric called again, and it was the feeling of the boy shifting heavily in his arm and the cold brush of his lips against Jim's cheek that finally brought him back to himself.

"Okay," Jim croaked, sucking in a shaky breath and ripping his hand away from Eric's now perfect ankle and foot. All that was left to remind anyone of the injury was the sticky stain of blood on his skin, shredded pant leg, and the pool of blood soaking into the earth beneath them. "I… I'm sorry."

"S'okay, Daddy," Eric mumbled, laying his head tiredly against Jim's shoulder, his body limp, heavy, and cold. "M'okay. Just… tired."

"Eric?!" Jim gasped as the boy went completely limp in his arms, his breathing slowing to almost non-existence. He shifted the small body in his arms, cradling him against his chest, and ran his hand through the child's hair. "Eric, wake up!"

 _He's lost too much blood_ , Ywain said, his voice deadpan and emotionless, unable to really comprehend the panic that Jim was feeling.

"What do I _do_?" he exclaimed, shaking the boy lightly. Eric's head lolled to the side, his lips blue. "Eric! Eric, open your eyes. C'mon, baby. Don't do this to me. Please, please…" Jim sobbed, clutching the child's body tighter to his chest. "Ywain! Tell me what to do!"

 _You don't know blood magic_ , Ywain said as if they were merely talking about the mechanics of using a toaster.

"Then give me the cheat sheet!" Jim demanded, his voice a hoarse growl. He rocked back and forth on his knees, moving his hand to slide under Eric's shirt, pressing it above his heart. His whole hand covered nearly the boy's entire torso, and he would feel each rib beneath the skin, his baggy clothes hiding how truly thin and malnourished the child truly was. There was a slight sense of relief in feeling the slow expanding of the boy's chest, but the breaths were slow and too far apart. Beneath that was the faint and slow pulse of his heartbeat, not nearly strong or fast enough. Ducking his head, Jim pressed a kiss to the corner of Eric's blue lips, just to feel the breath escape him and reassure himself that what he felt with his hand wasn't an illusion.

 _You are nearly out of magic_ , Ywain warned. _If you expend any more, you will lose your hold on the Amulet, and you will be unable to protect yourself should an enemy come upon you._

"I don't care!" Jim growled, licking Eric's cheek and rubbing his chest insistently in an attempt to rouse him. "Ywain, _tell me what to do_!"

If the soul inhabiting the Amulet had a body, Jim was fairly certain that he would be rolling his eyes. As it was, Jim _could_ hear the annoyed sigh that the child gave before responding. _Cut into a vein on both yourself and him, and then press the wounds together._

Moving quickly, Jim pulled his hand back from his son's chest, summoning his glaive again. As the blade appeared in his hand, he laid Eric down gently on the ground, and then he reached for the child's arm, turning it to expose his delicate wrist. Jim hesitated for a moment, every instinct in himself rebelling against the very notion of purposefully harming his child, but then Eric's breath stuttered and his chest fell still.

" _Eric?!_ "

 _Do it_ now, _Jim!_ Ywain shouted in his head, and the Amulet imbedded in his armor pulsed twice. A second later, the armor and chainmail protecting his right arm disappeared, leaving his skin exposed, his left hand still gripping his glaive tightly. _Make the cuts_ now _!_

Forcing himself not to think about what he had to do, Jim gripped Eric's wrist firmly and flipped his glaive around to nick into the child's wrist. The blood oozed forth, dangerously slow and thin, and Jim's heart pounded in fear, his own blood pulsing forth quickly and in abundance as he turned the blade on his own unprotected wrist. Ywain had seemingly pulled the magic from the blade, which prevented Daylight from causing his flesh to burn as it normally would have. Dropping his glaive, Jim pressed his bleeding wrist against his son's, and then demanded, "Now what?!"

 _Be still_ , Ywain murmured, and then there was another pulse of magic from the Amulet, and the rest of his armor dissipated, the magic sucking back into the Amulet. The object hovered just above their clasped hands, spinning wildly, and then a tendril of blue magic reached out to wrap around their wrists. Warmth tingled along Jim's arm, pulsing in time with his own heartbeat, and he felt his body become heavy, his vision starting to swim before him. He gasped for breath, suddenly so unbearably tired, and his body slumped forward. With the last of his strength, he threaded his fingers together with his son's, clasping the small hand between both of his tightly.

"Don't… stop," Jim warned Ywain, his eyelids falling heavily. "Save him."

And then Jim's world went sideways and black.

. . .

 _Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

"Ugh," Jim groaned, cringing sleepily against the incessantly blaring noise echoing around him. "Too loud…"

 _Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

" _I am Gun Robot! I am Gun Robot! I am—_ "

 _Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

"Jim! Jim, honey, wake up! You're going to be late for school!"

"Wha—?"

"Get up, sleepyhead!"

"Deya above, what the hell—" Jim gasped, jerking awake and sitting up, shaking his head dazedly.

"Jim, honestly, your alarm's been going off for half an hour!"

Jim turned to the sound of his mother's voice, blinking his eyes open sleepily, stretching and yawning. His back cracked as he stretched, and then he froze as he realized what he was hearing and seeing. "M-mom?"

"What's with that look?" Barbara laughed as she walked into the room — and not just _a_ room, but _his_ room; his bedroom in his mother's house. The posters, toys, books, action figures… everything was in the same place as he had always kept it before…

" _I am Gun Robot! I am Gun Robot! I—_ "

Jim absently snatched his phone up, and then dropped it in shock as he stared at his hands — his very _human_ hands. "Wha— no… _no!_ "

"Jim?"

Jim's heart pounded in his chest as he rubbed his hands over his wrists, searching for the charm that Merlin had given him. Finding nothing, he lifted his hands to his face, feeling desperately for a Glamour Mask. Again, nothing.

"Honey, are you all right?" Barbara asked in concern, walking up to him and pressing her hand to his forehead. "No fever. I hope you're not coming down with whatever it was that Claire had."

"Well, I can't get pregnant, so—"

"WHAT?!"

Jim jumped, grabbing his head in pain as his mother's outraged shout echoed painfully through his head. "Ow, Mom! Jeez! What am I even doing here? I was—"

"What do you mean Claire's _pregnant_?!" Barbara shouted, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him roughly, her eyes wild and panicked.

"Well, not any— Mom, you were _there_!" Jim groaned, frowning in pained confusion. "Are you really going to make me go through this again? Don't you think it hurts enough? And where's my charm? Why do I look human?"

Barbara stared down at Jim, her face pale and shocked, and then she relaxed, giving a weak laugh. Cupping his face, she leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead. "Jim, be honest with me: you and Toby were out late last night — were you drinking?"

"What?" Jim shook his head, leaning back from his mother to stare up at her in shocked confusion. "No, I… I was… I was… I was home, and then there was Time magic, and—"

"Jim," Barbara said, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "All right, I'll let it slide this once, but if I _ever_ catch you drinking again—"

"Mom, I wasn't—"

"Enough!" Barbara said, holding her hands up to stem his protests. "Now, other than some confusion, you don't seem to have a hangover, so I expect you to be up and out the door in five minutes!"

"But—"

"You're already late!" Barbara chastised, lightly smacking the back of his head. "Now, hurry up before you miss first period altogether!"

"Wait, no! Mom, listen to me!" Jim begged, rolling out of bed and standing to his feet, grabbing his mother's hand desperately as she turned away. "This is _wrong_. I… I'm not supposed to be here. I'm not in _school_. Cl-Claire and I are… are _married_. We have _children_! We don't even _live_ in California anymore!"

"Wow, that was some dream," Barbara laughed, the sound a little unnerved as she stared down at him. "How much did you drink?"

"I am _not_ drunk!" Jim exclaimed, annoyed when his throat refused to produce a growl. "I wasn't dream— _ow_!" Jim jerked back, grabbing his arm where his mother had pinched him, purposefully digging her nails in. "What the hell did you do that fo— _OW_!"

"First of all," Barbara fumed, shaking her hand out from the slap she'd just laid across his mouth and glaring down at Jim as he rubbed his face in pain. "You will not speak to your mother that way. I raised you better than that! And secondly, if this weren't real — if it were some kind of hallucination or dream — you wouldn't have felt that pain, would you?"

Jim stared up at his mother in shock, his face still stinging in pain. Glancing down at his thin, pale human arm, the place where his mother had pinched him was already turning purple. "N-no, but…"

Barbara sighed, bringing her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "Jim, that's enough, now. You need to get to school."

And with that, Barbara left Jim standing in the middle of his bedroom, in pain and dazed with shock and grief.

 _To be continued..._

 **✧ ✩ PLEASE REVIEW!** ✩ ✧


	37. Chapter Thirty-Seven

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-Chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

➳ _Hello, my loves! This chapter was actually much longer, but I cut it in half, so most of the next chapter is already written and should be up sooner than usual! Enjoy!_

 **Chapter Thirty-Seven**

"Dude, are you okay?" Toby asked for umpteenth time that day, eyeing Jim as if he were emotionally unstable and about to either blow his top or burst into tears any second. "Don't tell me Morgana got into _your_ head now?"

"Ugh, don't mention that witch's name to me," Claire groused, slinging her backpack higher up her shoulder. Her cheeks were still pale from her struggle against Morgana's control of her only the night before, the shadows under her eyes not quite as deep as they had been in the past few weeks. "If I ever get my hands on her, I'll—"

"Maybe you should work on recovering first," Toby chuckled, elbowing Claire lightly. "You're not gonna get your hands on anyone until you're feeling better, and you've got your new magic tricks under control."

Jim remained silent, following along behind his best friend and wife — _girlfriend_ , Jim reminded himself with a painful clenching of his heart — as they made their way to gym class.

"Jim, really," Claire said after a few more seconds of tense silence. She paused right before the gymnasium doors, giving Toby a pointed look and nodding her head inward. The short and chubby boy took the hint and gave Jim a slight smile before rushing inside, leaving the couple alone. Claire raised her hand to cup Jim's cheek, and he nearly sobbed at the touch, his memory so vivid in what more that touch could do and what it meant. "You look like you're about to throw up."

"I…" Jim's voice was rough with emotion as he spoke, and he lifted his hand to cover hers on his face. "I think I'm losing my mind."

" _Did_ Morgana get to you?" Claire asked, half laughing, but with a concerned look on her face as her eyes roved his anguished expression.

"No, I…" Jim closed his eyes, drawing in a shaky breath. "This… this has to be a dream — a nightmare."

"Well, I'm not a fan of gym class, either, but that hardly makes it a nightmare," Claire laughed, brushing her thumb along his cheek. "Especially in comparison to Gunmar and Morgana."

"No," Jim gasped again, not surprised to blink and feel warm wetness spill over. "This… we've already done this. I've already lived this."

"What do you mean?" Claire frowned, brushing the tear away, her expression unreadable. He hated not being able to feel the presence of her soul within his — but that had been a dream, right? An incredibly vivid dream, but a dream all the same. Or _this_ was the dream… but that couldn't be right, either; even in sleep, he would be able to feel her soul mixing with his. Now, he felt nothing from her.

"Nothing," Jim said, shaking his head, laughing even as more tears slipped free. "I guess… it's nothing. I just… I had a really vivid dream. I guess I didn't want to wake up."

"That good, huh?" Claire laughed, raising an eyebrow teasingly. "Some of your porn mag girls involved?"

Jim snorted a watery laugh, rolling his eyes. "Hardly. The only person I dream about like that is y— wait…" he frowned, eyeing Claire's laughing smile skeptically. "How did you know about my porn mags?"

"I found them, remember?" Claire replied, shrugging. "When I was looking for shorts to borrow?"

Jim shook his head, blinking dazedly. "But that was—"

 _Riiiiiiiing_.

"Gah!" Claire gasped, jumping and grimacing as the late bell went off right above them. Dropping her hand from his face, Claire made a face and grabbed his hand, tugging him after her through the gymnasium doors. "C'mon! Coach Lawrence will kill us, if we're any later!"

"No offense, but I think Gunmar is scarier than Coach," Jim chuckled, allowing Claire to tug him along behind her. They separated at the locker rooms, Claire disappearing into the Girls' room, while he turned to the boys' room.

" _Dude_!"

Jim cringed as Steve slung his arm around his shoulders and punched his arm just as he opened his locker in search of his gym clothes. Jim really wasn't in the mood to engage Steve, but he had no choice when the other teen reached up and pinched his cheek playfully. "Ow! What the fuck are you—"

"Wa-hoe!" Steve laughed, pinching Jim's cheek tighter and giving it a shake. "Well, I was gonna call you out on the waterworks, but I think you just manned up by uttering that _awesome_ cuss word without even so much as a blush!"

"I'm not in the mood, Steve," Jim growled (without the actual growl, pissing him off even more), shrugging Steve away roughly.

"No prob," Steve nodded, brushing off Jim's rudeness with a dismissive wave of his hand, but still hanging across his shoulders. "I just had a question — you went to that new restaurant with Claire the other night, right? Any good?"

"What are you talking about?" Jim asked in a flat voice, rolling his eyes as he realized that Steve wasn't going to let him go without an answer.

"Dude, Darci's been telling Mary, who's been telling Aja, who's been telling _me_ ," Steve started to explain in a convoluted way. "…that she and Toby went on a double date with you and Claire the other night. To that new restaurant on Main Street? She said Claire wasn't feeling well, and you guys had to call the date short, but how was the restaurant?"

"I…" Jim started, fully intending to answer Steve's question, but then coming up short. "I… I, uh… I don't remember."

"Really?" Steve asked, leaning back and raising an eyebrow. He gave Jim a skeptical once over and then grinned, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. "Claire give you such a good dessert that you can't remember dinner?"

"She was sick, Steve," Jim said, rolling his eyes and slipping out from underneath the other boy's arm. "Ask Toby, if you don't believe me."

"Ah, c'mon, man!" Steve laughed, leaning back against the row of lockers, his arms crossed over his bare chest. "You're so boring! Didn't you take her home? And you didn't _do_ anything?"

Jim glanced around them, but he and Steve were fairly alone, only Eli and Toby chatting quietly on the other side of the room. "Trollhunter business interfered."

"Really?" Steve said, his expression dropping in disappointment. "You know, this job of yours is always interrupting the good stuff. Maybe you should consider a career change."

Jim couldn't help but laugh at that, pulling his gym shirt over his head. "I'm afraid it's a 'until death do we part' kind of job."

"Ew," Steve scrunched up his nose in disgust. "So, you gotta keep fighting your whole life?"

"Not if there's peace," Jim shrugged, stuffing his day clothes into the locker. "Then we can all live happily ever after."

"Right," Steve replied, grabbing his own shirt from where it had been slung over the bench between the rows of lockers. "Anyway, guess I can't rely on you for dating advice for a while."

"Sorry."

"Nah, it's okay," Steve said, waving his hand dismissively again. "I'll just ask Aja what she likes. For all I know, she might not even like human food."

"Maybe not," Jim hummed quietly, shutting the locker door and moving back toward the exit. He heard Steve fall into step behind him, and then what the other teen said caught up to him, and he turned around abruptly, Steve almost barreling him over before he could stop. "Why wouldn't she like human food?"

"Huh?" Steve asked, giving Jim another once-over, this one full of confusion. "Well, you know… maybe interplanetary beings prefer weird things, like… literal mud pies, or something like that." His expression turned thoughtful. "Maybe I'll ask her what her favorite stuff was on Akiridion-5, and then try to find an Earth equivalent."

"You shouldn't be giving out her secret like this," Jim warned, glaring Steve down harshly, a surge of protectiveness welling up in him. "I thought you cared about her?"

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Of course, I do — but you already knew her secret."

"I did?" Jim asked, lifting his hand to scratch the back of his head in thought. "No, you… you're right, I… I did know. When did I—?"

"Lake, Palchuk!" Coach's voice shouted from just beyond the locker room doors. "We're all out here, waiting on you, so _get your butts in gear_!"

. . .

"Master Jim, you are unusually distracted tonight."

"Sorry, Blink," Jim cringed, only half paying attention to their surroundings as they made the nightly rounds on the displaced trolls. They were coming up on Cor and Norie's little alleyway that they had claimed for themselves, pallets and tarps thrown together haphazardly to create the appearance of random junk, but actually providing a safe shelter for the pair and their baby. "I'm… I don't know."

"Hm…" Blinky hummed thoughtfully, falling back a step to keep pace with Jim. Placing one of his upper hands on Jim's shoulder, he gave a light squeeze. "Claire's recent confrontation with Morgana has you more frazzled than you're willing to admit, yes?"

"I…" Jim sighed, running his hand through his hair distractedly, shaking his head. "No, that's not it. I just… have you ever had a dream that was so real that you doubt whether reality is real?"

Blinky's eyes winked out of sync as he stared down at Jim, his expression thoughtful as he contemplated what Jim had asked. "Well, I dream for peace—"

"I don't mean metaphorically," Jim laughed lightly, reaching up to cover Blinky's hand on his shoulder, patting it reassuringly. "I mean a literal dream."

"Ah," Blinky said, crossing his bottom two arms over his stomach in thought, the rhythmic tapping of his staff a sort of soothing background noise. "I can't say that I _have_ ever experienced such a thing, my boy. Have you?"

Jim nodded, his gaze dropping to the ground as they walked. "Yes… but I can't tell which is the dream and which is reality."

"Because they both feel real?" Blinky surmised in a quiet and gentle voice.

Jim nodded again, and then froze as the sound of an infant crying rose up from the alley before them. His heart seized in panic, and before he could stop himself, he was rushing forward passed the hanging tarp, his Amulet glowing brightly in his palm, ready to summon his armor and weapon at a moment's notice.

" _Ellie_!"

"Trollhunter?!" Cor gasped, his hands stopping an inch away from grabbing Jim by his throat and tearing him to pieces. The snarl on the huge troll's face melted as Blinky rushed in behind Jim, breathless with shock.

"What in Deya's name—"

"I…" Jim breathed, staring at a confused Norie in shock as she rocked her crying baby in her arms. "I heard the baby, and I thought…"

"Understandable," Cor nodded, visibly relaxing and offering Jim a reluctant grin of apology. "S'pose we've all got reason to be on edge these days. It's nice to know our Trollhunter will come to our defense, even if just from the terrors of a hungry babe."

"I'm sorry," Jim mumbled, his face heating in embarrassment. "I'm not… I didn't mean to just barge in. I… I guess I really am on edge."

"Were you looking for someone?" Norie asked, shifting the baby in her arms, so the child could nurse. Though trolls didn't really have any sense of body modesty, Jim still averted his eyes out of respect — plus, Cor was likely to _really_ rip him to pieces, if he stared too much.

"We were just conducting our nightly security checks," Blinky said reassuringly, laughing a little as he ruffled Jim's hair. "We can't be too careful nowadays."

"You called for someone named 'Ellie'…" Norie went on, her eyes boring intensely into Jim's as he looked up at her in shock. "Are you looking for her?"

"No…" Jim sighed, blinking back tears for the thousandth time that day. "It was… just a dream that I had."

"Best not let your mate hear you sayin' another woman's name," Cor teased, and Jim grinned weakly, though his heart ached at the word 'mate.'

"No," Jim agreed with a small, sad laugh. "She wouldn't have to worry about this one."

A cat screeching in the alleyway behind them had Jim back on edge, jumping and spinning around, pressing his Amulet nervously to his chest. Before he could really relax, Blinky placed his hand back on Jim's shoulder, and he flinched at the contact.

"My boy, perhaps you should head home for the night," Blinky advised, giving Jim a calculating once over. "Get some proper sleep. All is well here, for the time being. I will call you should an issue arise."

"No, the checks—" Jim started, shaking his head, but Blinky squeezed his shoulder lightly.

"It's all right," Blinky assured him, and then he threw a smirk at Cor. "I'll conscript Cor here to help me finish our rounds. It should only take a couple of hours."

Cor glared at Blinky, and then rolled his eyes playfully and nodded. "Go on, Trollhunter. You don't want to see me hunt down that cat, anyway."

Jim cringed, frowning. "What if it has a collar?"

Cor laughed loudly, slapping a huge hand down on Jim's shoulder, causing his knees to buckle slightly. "You humans… don't worry, Trollhunter. I've been watchin' that one for two days. Tomcat of the alley — no collar, no friends, mean as a Nyarlagroth, and only good for makin' more cats. Hm… maybe I _should_ keep 'im around."

"Cor," Jim groaned, rolling his eyes.

"Your hunt will have to wait, my friend," Blinky said, giving Cor a firm look. The four armed troll turned back to Jim with a patient and kind smile. "Go on, my boy. Get some rest."

Jim sighed and nodded, and then he was moving, as if on autopilot. He gave a weak wave to the others and started to walk. He was aware of himself as far as the end of the alley, and then all he knew was the placement of one foot in front of the other. He didn't know how long he walked in the night, trying not to think, but when he stopped, he was not in front of his own house, but staring up at Claire's window from her front yard. The room was dark, save for a slight glow that he recognized as the light from her bedside table. He only hesitated a moment before his phone was pressed to his ear, and he could faintly hear her end ringing from inside the house before her voice picked up on his receiver.

"Hola, mi amor," Claire greeted with a smile in her voice. "Finished with rounds already?"

"I got sent home early," Jim laughed weakly, waving up at the window as Claire moved into view, smiling down at him. "Apparently, I was distracted."

"Well, you have been that," Claire said, grinning down at him as she opened her window and gestured for him to climb up.

Jim smiled, his heart lifting slightly as he pressed the end button on his phone and put it back into his pocket. In less than a minute, he'd scaled the porch supports and was on the roof, where he greeted his mate — _girlfriend_ — with a chaste kiss. " _But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?/It is the east, and Juliet is the sun… It is my lady. O, it is my love!_ "

"You skipped a few lines there, Romeo," Claire laughed, pulling away and grabbing his hand to pull him inside after her.

"I got the important bits," he replied, following after Claire as she led him to her bed and pushed him down to sit. She sat next to him, holding both his hands in each of hers. "How are you feeling?"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" Claire said, squeezing his hands lightly and tilting her head to catch his downward gaze. "You _can_ talk to me, you know."

"I know," he nodded, his chest and throat tightening in emotion. "I just…" Jim trailed off, not really knowing what to say, nor really ready to talk either. Claire remained silent, waiting for him to speak again, but when he gave her a small shrug and a miserable half smile, she sighed and squeezed his hands again before letting go and standing to her feet. "Wait! I'm sorry, Claire, I just… I really don't know how to talk about it."

"It's okay," she replied, leaning down to press a kiss to his forehead. Straightening again, she smiled down at him, brushing a light hand through his hair. "Take your time."

With that, she turned and walked away across the room. Jim watched her, thinking and sorting through the mess in his head, as she stood in front of her mirror for a second, inspecting the white part of her hair as he knew she tended to do. For the most part, she ignored it, but Jim knew that she was self-conscious about it to an extent, especially since dye would not take to it. He couldn't remember if he'd ever told her that he loved it — at least not here, in reality — but that thought spiraled him into more grief and doubt, dragging him down to the point where his chest ached so bad that he was certain his imagined battle wounds were still there, just buried beneath the surface of his skin.

So distracted was he that he didn't notice, at first, when Claire started casually taking her clothes off, as if to undress in front of him was commonplace, and while Jim's imagination had certainly gone wild, he was positive that he had never seen her naked in reality. "Cl-Claire! What are you doing?!"

Claire blinked and caught his eye in the mirror, shrugging and finished pulling her shirt off over her head. "Getting undressed. Will you get my bra latch?"

Jim sputtered, his face heating in embarrassment at her aloofness, but gestured for her to come to him. She smiled and walked back to the bed, turning her back to allow him to sit up and reach for the latch in the middle of her back. As the material slackened, he averted his eyes to his lap, but then had to look away when he registered his own body's reaction, though he couldn't ignore the tight feeling in the pit of his stomach or the sensation of his body responding to hers. "Hurry and put your pajamas on."

"Why?" Claire responded, her voice innocently curious, as if the idea of being embarrassed or modest in front of him had never occurred to her. "I thought we could make love. So much has happened recently, I feel like it's been forever since we've been together, not just a few days."

"Wha…?" Jim looked up at her in embarrassed shock, his brain seizing in confusion. For a moment, his arousal was forgotten, even as he took in her topless figure. "Claire, we've _never_ —"

"Haven't we?" she asked with teasing grin, and Jim tensed.

"Is Morgana still in your head?" he demanded, but he relaxed again when Claire's expression softened, and she smiled patiently down at him.

"How about this," she proposed, stepping back a few steps to discard her jeans. Mercifully, she left her panties on, and then she came forward again, pulling one leg up to halfway kneel on the bed by his side. "We lie down, and you just hold me, and you can tell me what's going on, hm?"

Jim thought about it, and then nodded slowly, hesitantly swallowing against the lump in his throat. He scooted back on the bed, so that he could lie himself down closest to the wall, and then he opened his arms to Claire, who slipped in beside him, pressing her body along his. Thankfully, she didn't squirm or move around too much except for a wiggle to make herself comfortable, and then they laid in silence for a few minutes, Jim gathering his thoughts together. Slowly, he began to speak, telling her of his long and vivid dream. He told her everything; every single detail, all the way from becoming a half troll and facing Gunmar and Morgana; right down to the most mundane things he could remember — the pictures he had on his phone, the magical knickknacks that they had on their shelves in their cave, the name of the baby boutique in Hoboken that she frequented to buy dresses for Ellie. And he told her of Ellie, their sweet baby, and the powers that she had, and the time travel that they had endured, and the children they _would_ have, but hadn't yet, and _oh_ , how he loved them, how badly he wished for their existence…

Everything.

When he was through speaking, a couple of hours had passed, and his voice had grown tired and hoarse. Throughout, Claire had remained wide awake, listening intently, never interrupting him to ask a question or argue a point. Jim, himself, felt worse than before. It was like he was desperately homesick, but for places and people whom he had really never met before.

"…impossible."

"Huh?" Jim mumbled, only half listening to Claire as she spoke into the silence.

"I said 'that's impossible,'" Claire replied in a soft voice, her lips brushing his chest above his shirt.

"I know," he said, his heart aching with the admittance. "I know it is, and that's why it hurts so—"

"No, Jim," Claire interrupted, cleaning back to look up at him seriously. "How can you be so deeply in love with imaginary people? It's impossible."

"I know," Jim repeated, angry and annoyed at her insistence. Couldn't she tell how badly he was taking this? "You don't have to—"

"Listen to what I'm saying," Claire interrupted again, a small smile on her face as she forced him to meet her gaze. "It's _impossible_ to truly love someone who _doesn't_ exist."

Jim frowned down at her, catching on to the fact that she was trying to convey something more meaningful with her words, but he was in too much pain to try and figure it out. "Claire, I _know_ , okay? But I can't help it. The dream… it was so incredibly real."

"Are you so ready to disregard that life in favor of the illusion of safety?" Claire asked, reaching up to stroke his cheek.

"What…?" Jim frowned down at her, reaching up to cover her hand on his face. "I don't… you have no idea how much I want that life, but… it's not real. It was never real."

Claire smiled up at him, and then leaned back, despite his embarrassed protests as she exposed her body to him. "Look."

"Are you nuts?" Jim hissed, averting his eyes to the ceiling, his cheeks burning. "I—"

"Look at me," Claire repeated in a soft voice, leaning further back to display her body to him, brushing her thumb across his lips. "Look, Jim."

His face burning, Jim bit his lip and looked down, his eyes immediately going to Claire's breasts. He couldn't help but stare at them for a minute, caught up in the rush of hormonal arousal the sight awarded him, and so it didn't occur to him right away that he shouldn't have recognized the small, heart-shaped birthmark on the outer swell of her right breast, or the random patch of freckles on her ribs, just below her left breast. As his gaze slipped lower, Jim couldn't help the longing sigh that rose up in him as he looked over her stomach — mostly flat, except for a little bit of extra skin at the base of her belly — and then froze when his eyes landed on the thin and small incisional scar spanning her lower left side. Breathless, he dropped his trembling hand from hers on his face and trailed it down her body to press against the scar.

"This is the dream…" Jim breathed in realization, his eyes wide and heart pounding as he met Claire's smiling gaze.

"Magically induced, I suspect," she said, covering his hand with hers this time and giving it a light squeeze.

Something suddenly occurred to Jim, and he jerked his hand away from Claire, pressing his body back against the wall in horror. "You're not Claire."

She laughed lightly, the sound kind. "I am, actually… in a certain sense, anyway."

"I don't understand," Jim admitted with no small amount of embarrassment and a little fear. He kept his gaze locked on her face, horrified to think he was looking at and touching someone wearing his lover's face. "You… this is… this _can't_ be the dream. Even sleeping, I would still be able to feel Claire's soul within me, and I… I don't feel anything."

"That's because I'm right here," she replied with a patiently understanding smile. "I _am_ Claire; I'm the part of myself that is always with you. Something is preventing you from feeling me as you normally do, so I had to manifest in a different way to wake you up."

"But I'm not awake… am I?" Jim asked, his head beginning to ache with no small amount of confusion. "And… what do you mean? Like, what? You're Claire's… _soul_?"

"Yes," Claire beamed, leaning forward to press her lips in a quick, chaste peck against his lips. "And, no, you're not _awake_ , but you _are_ aware now. You've been sleeping in oblivion for… well, I don't know how long, but I couldn't reach you with my normal ease."

"Does _my_ Claire know that you're doing this?" Jim asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Can she hear me?"

"I _am_ your Claire," the girl lying next to him pouted, tilting her head up to lick his chin in a familiar motion that sent tendrils of aroused heat curling through his stomach. She buried herself back into his loose embrace as he relaxed again, unable to pretend that this so-called 'soul' was truly anything other than what and who she said she was. "My corporeal form is not aware of this conversation, per se, but she's been pouring herself into you, trying to bring you back. She can feel your response now, and it's giving her hope."

"I'm sorry," Jim mumbled, his throat tightening as he felt the slight tremble in Claire's arms, and he wrapped his arms loosely around her waist, rubbing her bare back gently. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Then you should wake up."

"How?" he demanded, sighing in frustration as he raised his arm slightly to show off the series of bruises running up and down the limb. "I've been pinching myself all day and nothing. Tell me what to do." Jim cringed at the line, distantly recalling his shouting at Ywain, begging him to tell him how to save Eric's life. His heart ached at the unknown fate of his child, and he couldn't help the shiver that rushed up his spine.

"This… _sleep_ , if you want to call it that," Claire started, pressing distractedly hot kisses along his throat as she spoke. "…is magically induced, I think. I told you before."

"Yes," Jim breathed, his eyes fluttering closed at the pleasure of her actions, even as he forced himself to pay attention to what she was saying. "But… my understanding of sleeping spells is that, once the person under the spell is aware of the magic, they can easily break themselves of it. Unless…"

"Unless?" Claire prompted, leaning back slightly to look up at him, and he opened his eyes to meet hers.

"I was… weak," he stated, frowning a little at the slight fog distorting his most recent memories. Now that he really thought of it, this day _had_ skipped around, speeding up and slowing down, in only the way a dream could. It amazed him that he hadn't noticed before, but he had been deep in his own depression, and this world seemed so real, even now. He guessed that was all Claire's doing. In order to shock him into a state of awareness, she had to create a world and scenario that was so opposite of what he knew that it made him question the reality of both worlds. Still, the fog hazing through his mind — while slowly lifting — was not gone, and he struggled to recall the last events of reality in perfect remembrance. "I… I lost a lot of blood."

"Yes," Claire nodded, her expression unsurprised. She tilted her head up slightly, pressing a kiss to his jaw. "Why?"

Jim cringed, closing his eyes in shame and agony, unable to look his mate's soul in the eyes. "Eric… was hurt. I… I had to use blood magic to try and…"

"Jim, why are you afraid?" Claire asked, her voice knowing and patient.

"I'm not—"

"You have your strength back," she interrupted, teasingly pressing her hips to his to emphasize her point. Jim sighed achingly, not being able to help but to gently grind against her in return. Claire laughed a little, pulling his head down to press her lips to his, her tongue licking his lips as she continued speaking. "You are aware that you are under a spell. You can break this easily. _You_ are the only one holding yourself back. Now," she pulled back from him, forcing their gazes together again. "…what are you afraid of?"

"I…" Jim started, his heart lodging itself in his throat as he remembered his son's small, lifeless form lying in his arms, cold and not breathing. "I broke my promise."

"What promise?" she asked, tilting her head slightly, her voice genuinely confused this time.

"I promised you that we wouldn't lose another," he replied, half sobbing as he clenched his eyes closed against the tears threatening to fall. He sucked in a shaky breath when he felt the fingers cupping his face gently stroke his cheekbones.

"And have we?"

"I don't know," Jim whispered back hoarsely, shaking his head. He opened his eyes again to look down at Claire's patient expression, nothing but love shining back at him. "He… he lost so much blood. The last thing that I remember is him going limp, and he had stopped breathing."

"And you nearly killed yourself trying to bring him back, mi amor," Claire said, leaning up to press a soft kiss to his trembling bottom lip. "What makes you think your efforts weren't successful?"

"I…"

"Jim," Claire breathed, smiling sweetly at him as he let the tears fall, his guilt and anguish rising to the surface unbidden. "Do you know why we're here right now? Why this you is human? Why this dream is showing you a time before we were really together?"

"We were—" Jim started, but Claire interrupted him with a laugh, leaning back and grabbing his hand on her waist and dragging it up to cup her breast.

"Like this?"

Jim couldn't help but blush, but he also lightly squeezed the mound under his palm. "Well, no. I guess not."

"This is when you were feeling your lowest," Claire explained gently, cupping her hand over his and threading their fingers together above her heart. "This is when and how you doubted yourself the most." She paused to let him process this information, bringing their joined hands up to brush a kiss across his knuckles. "Jim, you love being a father, but I know that you have always questioned and second guessed yourself. Being thrown into a future that you weren't ready for has only intensified those feelings. Handling a 6 month old little girl is much different than a handful of walking, talking, and thinking teenagers and kids."

Jim chuckled thickly, pressing his forehead to Claire's, finally conceding to his fears. "It's just… what if I'm… Aiden said we fought, and I told him that I understood and that it didn't mean we didn't love each other — and I _do_ believe that! — but…" he swallowed against the ache building in his throat, squeezing his eyes shut again. "…but what if I mess up? Like, _really_ mess up? What if I don't protect them enough? Or I protect them _too much_ , and they resent me for it? What if I… I'm like…"

"You would _never_ be like your father, mi amor," Claire said, reading into his fears easily. It wasn't as if he had never shared those feelings with her before, but they had never been so present as they were now. "I told you once that you would be the best father in the world, and you have never given me reason to doubt that. I have never met a man — especially a teenaged one — who gave as much of himself to the people he loved more than you. You love our babies, and you are _dying_ for them, but Jim… you need to live for them too. Your father didn't have that strength, but you do. You always will."

"Claire…" Jim sighed, the ache in his heart lifting a little at the confidence in her voice. Unable to resist, he tilted his head and crashed his lips to hers, kissing her deeply. She responded enthusiastically, her tongue tangling with his, her hand dragging his back to cupping her breast. As he felt the soft flesh fit into his palm once more, he hummed in surprise as he noticed a slight difference in sensation. Yanking his head back and opening his eyes, Jim gasped in surprise as he saw his blue, four-fingered troll hand now fondling his mate, rather than the human one he had only just had. Licking his lips, he felt his longer teeth protruding from his mouth, and he noted that even the angle he was lying at was longer than it just had been.

"There you are," Claire laughed lightly, nuzzling affectionately into his throat and gently licking and nipping at his favorite spots. A growl of desire rose in his chest and she laughed again, leaning back to look up at him. "I need you, love — but I need you awake and in the real world."

"You're not exactly making me want to leave right this second," Jim teased, jerking his hips against hers, but he could already feel the magic that he hadn't perceived previously lifting from around him. Claire was clear in front of him, but their surroundings were fading, becoming dark and fuzzy. Even the bed below them was fading away, until they were nothing but two souls floating in darkness.

Claire grinned up at him once more, a slightly evil glint in her eyes. "No? I would think real sex would be better than dream sex. Besides," she darted forward and nipped his bottom lip, tugging playfully. "I think Aiden will appreciate his existence as a late birthday present."

Jim snorted another laugh, shaking his head. "I _told_ Merlin that you had Baby Fever."

"Close your eyes," Claire said after a moment of shared laughter, and he relaxed and did as she said. "Now, breathe… and _wake up_."

 _To be continued..._

✩ ✧ _**PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!**_ ✧ ✩


	38. Chapter Thirty-Eight

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

➳ _Hello, loves! This chapter is quite long to make up for both the last wait and the coming one. Our annual trip to the beach is during the next two weeks, so while I will try to get some writing in, I may not update again until the end of August. Enjoy!_

 **Chapter Thirty-Eight**

There was no sudden jolt or the sensation of fading and waking; Jim was wide awake in an instant, as if he hadn't been asleep at all, in the first place. He could feel himself lying flat against a soft, but firm surface, a light weight covering him, like a blanket of some kind. Still breathing deeply, the scent of clean water and crushed grass filled his lungs, the slight edge of something herbal drifting by on a light breeze. He stayed still for a minute, his eyes remaining closed as he reoriented himself to his new surroundings; he could still feel the edge of magic hovering over him, but it was dissipating quickly. Among the new scents, however, his mate and children were not there — at least, not strongly. Jim could tell that they had all been there recently, but they weren't there now. Just as he was about to open his eyes and sit up, the sound of light footsteps approached, and two new scents and unknown voices with it.

"…ild woke an hour ago, so he should be rousing soon, as well."

"Shouldn't the Trollhunter have awoken first? The little one was in a far worse state than him."

The voices were female, one distinctly younger than the other. The first one who had spoken — the older one — held a slightly arrogant and annoyed tone, while the other was more timid, as if she were afraid of upsetting the other woman.

"He isn't the Trollhunter any longer."

"Well… he is, though. I mean, he's from the past, isn't he? So—"

"Ugh," the older woman scoffed in disgust. "That magic is _unnatural_."

"Forgive me, Mother," the younger voice said quietly, reluctantly. "…but I think this darkness taking over the world is more unnatural than—"

"No being should be able to manipulate the flow of time," the woman snapped back. "Those _children_ are unnatural. Troll, human… one or the other, but to be… _both_? And with inherent magical abilities added in… they shouldn't exist."

" _Mother_ …" the girl sighed, her own voice taking on an annoyed huff. "They're _good_ people."

"Iníon, you are naive and weak."

"Mother—"

"You would let that halfling creature steal your intended?"

"Finn loves her, Mother," the girl whispered timidly, like she was afraid to argue with the woman.

The woman scoffed again. "Finn is infatuated with the unique. It's disgusting that he would even think of bonding with her. Can you imagine the shame that the Ceannasaí must feel that his heir would want to dirty his pure bloodline with some troll-human-witchling?"

"I would _shut up_ , if I were you," Jim growled, having heard enough and sitting up abruptly, his eyes snapping open to glare the women down.

As he took in his surroundings, he realized that he was in a huge tent of some kind, with high ceilings and flowing, nature-like designs woven throughout the canvas. The sounds of night bugs echoed in the silence around them, and he could see the soft, blinking glow of fireflies through the canvas. A few cloth lanterns were hanging from the ceiling poles of the tent, but the light wasn't electric, or even fire, but more fireflies, somehow contained inside. There were several low cots lined on either side of the room, only a couple of them made neatly. The others were tossed, like they had been slept in recently, the blankets and linens a clean and soft material, not quite silk or cotton, but something in-between. The two women in front of him were tall, slender, and clearly Elven, though they did not look like the one dying Forest Elf that he had met previously. Their ears were impossibly long and angled at a more backward tilt than a human's or, even, his own, and their noses were small and straight, with very little curve from their foreheads. Their eyes were much larger than a human's or most trolls', even, making them look a little cartoonish. They each wore flowing white and gold robes that pooled elegantly at their feet, the same nature-like design that was sewn into the tent swirling subtly throughout the cloth of their dresses.

The younger girl, who seemed to be no more than 15 or 16, had long, flowing red hair — but not red like his mother's or the twins', but red like blood, so dark that it bordered on brown. The contrast between the darkness of her hair against the pure white of her dress was almost startling, but the deeper tan of her skin tempered it. It was clear that she spent a lot of time in the sun, and looking down at her hands and slim, long fingers, Jim noted the scent of earth under her nails. On every patch of visible skin — her face, neck, and the backs of her hands — she was branded with thin, swirling lines of white ink that shimmered subtly with each movement. Her eyes, wide as they were, shone back at him in the dim light cast by the fireflies, and he was startled to note that the color was like pure gold, warm and honey-like.

The older woman, slightly taller than the girl, seemed almost ageless. It was clear that she was older, but she could have been anywhere from 20 to 50, and he would never be able to tell. Her skin was pale and smooth, reflecting the same swirling tattoos as her supposed daughter, but none of her tan. Her hands were clean and folded in front of herself tersely. Her blonde hair must have been long, but was held up in an intricate bun and braids, delicate silver hair trinkets that looked like thin vines woven throughout the updo. Her eyes were the same color as the younger girl's, but instead of warmth, Jim was met with the cold and watchful gaze of a hawk.

Abruptly, the older woman slightly inclined her head to him. "I apologize. I did not realize you were awake."

"Do you apologize for your words or for being caught?" Jim demanded coldly, his back straight and head held high. He was drawing on every ounce of authority and diplomacy that he had ever been taught by his mentors.

The woman paused and a smirk slowly spread across her lips as she regarded him. Tilting her head again, she turned to the younger girl and snapped, "Tend to him," before marching from the tent, the flap of the entry falling back into place smoothly behind her.

"I'm sorry," the girl mumbled in embarrassment, bowing her head deeply to him, her blood-like hair spilling around her. "Please disregard her words, Athair. My mother values the old ways."

"Hm," Jim hummed, glaring at the tent flap as if to dare the other woman to come back. Dragging his eyes back to the younger girl, he didn't drop his cold authority, despite knowing that the child was far kinder than her mother. "Where is my mate? Where are my children?"

"They are well," she hurriedly replied, gesturing weakly to the unmade cots. "It is mealtime, and they went to retrieve their portions only a while ago. Lady Claire has been tending to both you and the young boy for days, without rest. We have only just convinced her to leave the tent and to eat a full meal, now that the boy is awake. She did not want to leave both of you at once."

Jim threw the blanket off of himself, only barely noticing that he was dressed in loose pants and a flowing shirt made of the same material that the Elven women's dresses were made of, green designs — instead of gold — woven throughout the white fabric. Pushing himself to his bare feet, he was only half a head taller than the girl, who was now in front of him, nervously blocking his path. "Let me—"

"Please, Athair," she begged, wringing her hands together. "The magic is still—"

"I'm fine," Jim snapped, trying to side-step her, but she fluidly blocked him again, though she didn't look happy to do so. "Look, I don't know where I am; I don't know how long I've been unconscious; I don't know _you_ ; and, the last thing I remember is that my son stopped breathing — so _fuck_ whatever magic you put on me and get out of my way, _now_."

"It was only meant to help, Athair," she replied, bowing her head again, and his stomach twisted at the slight hurt in her tone of voice.

"My name is Jim," Jim sighed, crossing his arms in front of his chest nervously, but relaxing his stance and tone a little in apology.

The girl relaxed as well, but looked up at him with confusion on her face. "I… I know that."

"You keep calling me—" Jim started, shaking his head against his own confusion, but then the girl's expression cleared, becoming a bit amused.

"Oh," she laughed, and then ducked her head apologetically. "I am sorry. I forgot that you do not quite know our language yet. _Athair_ would translate to English as _Father_ ; it is meant as a term of respect."

"Oh," Jim said, his face flushing in embarrassment. "Uh, sorry. I just… look, I'm sorry. I'm disoriented and worried, and I—"

"I understand," she replied, nodding. Jim watched as she lifted her hands to tuck her hair behind her long ears. "Our hunters found you and your family a little over a week ago—"

"A _week_?!" Jim gasped, stepping back in shock and nearly tumbling backward as his legs hit the cot. The girl caught his wheeling arms to steady him, keeping a firm grip until he was still again. "I've been unconscious for a week?! What about my son? Where's Eric? What—"

"Shh, Athair," the girl breathed, tightening her grip on his forearms gently. "Be calm. He woke an hour before yourself, and he is with his mother and siblings. He is not quite as steady as you are, and our healer wants to look him over again after he eats a little."

"I—"

" _Jim_!"

Jim's heart leapt onto his throat as he looked up at the shout of his name and saw his mate rush into the tent, throwing the flap aside forcefully. She paused only long enough for him to take in her appearance and realize that she was wearing a dress that was the same style as the Elven women's, though the designs were green, like his. Her face was pale and gaunt, like she hadn't slept or taken care of herself in days, but that was bellied by the overwhelming relief spreading across her face and pushing into him through their bond. The Elven girl released him and stepped back just in time for Claire to throw herself forward and Jim caught her up in his arms, crushing her to his chest as he buried his face into her neck, breathing in her scent deeply. He nearly groaned aloud as he recognized the slowly deepening scent of her fertility. Apparently, his healing spell had done its job quite well, though it hadn't been his intention to force her body back into its normal rhythm; although, it now made sense as to why her soul had been so amorous with him in his dream.

"Don't you _ever_ do that to me again!" Claire sobbed angrily, trying to jerk back from him, but unable to escape his tight hold. Instead, she reached up and grabbed his ear, yanking it roughly. "You nearly _died_."

"I had to do something, Claire," Jim growled, trying to stomp down the spark of desire starting to ignite in his stomach. It didn't help that he knew Claire could feel him, both physically and through their Soul Bond, though she seemed too upset to respond in kind. "Where is he? Is he okay? What—"

"He's fine," she sighed in response, tears of relief welling up in her eyes as she looked up at him. "Still shaky and weak, but he's awake. I felt you starting to come around, so I left the children to eat while I came back for you."

Jim shook his head in exasperation, leaning down to press a lingering kiss to her forehead. "Did _you_ eat? She said that you hadn't left our sides in a week."

Claire looked around at the Elven girl, who was standing to the side, her head bowed submissively as she tried to avoid catching their attention. "Aislinn? Wait…" she frowned, glancing around anxiously, and Jim was a little surprised to feel his mate's temper briefly flare. "…where is you mother?"

"She left me to tend to Master Jim, Máthair," the girl said quietly, her cheeks darkening with a slight blush, though a bit of a mischievous smirk played at the corner of her mouth. "She… well… Master Jim overheard some of her words as he woke and called her out on them."

"Hmph," Claire scoffed, rolling her eyes. Her anger distracted from him, she let go of his ear and wrapped her arms around his neck, her hands threading through his scruff and tugging in a way that sent chills down his spine. "Aislinn, you are a sweet girl, and I adore you, but I can't stand your mother."

"She is of her own mind," Aislinn replied diplomatically, though the pout in her expression suggested that she agreed with Claire's assessment.

"I take it that this is the Elven clan that the kids have been trying to find?" Jim asked, reluctantly forcing himself to let go of his mate and taking a small step back, careful to keep his balance as his legs bumped into the cot again.

"Yes, although _they_ found _us_ ," Claire said, nodding. She smiled a little playfully, and then turned to the elf again. "Aislinn, thank you for looking after my mate, but why don't you go and eat your meal? Aiden's been a grumpy butt the past few days, I'm sure you've noticed. Maybe your company would cheer him up?"

Aislinn's tanned face bloomed red with the force of her sudden blush and Jim bit his lip against a laugh as the girl muttered an embarrassed affirmation, and then rushed from the tent after another quick bow in their direction.

"Has she got a crush on him?" Jim chuckled, drawing his mate back into his arms and settling back down onto the cot with Claire in his lap.

"I suspect it's a mutual affection, given that he becomes more tongue-tied than even _you_ did when trying to talk to me, in the beginning," Claire replied, teasingly tapping a long finger against his nose. He tilted his head to gently lick and nip at the digit as she drew her hand away, and she sighed and laid her head down against his shoulder, her hand coming down to gently caress his chest above the cloth of his shirt. "But that comes with a bit of a scandal."

"Yeah, her mother didn't seem too fond of the idea of mixed blood," Jim scoffed, rolling his eyes and absently nuzzled his face into his mate's neck again.

"Oh, she's definitely not," Claire sighed, tilting her head back to give his lips and tongue more access to her throat. "But that's not what the scandal is — at least, not all of it. Apparently, Aislinn and Finn — you know, Ellie's boyfriend? — are promised to be mated."

" _What_?" Jim gasped, jerking back to stare at Claire in shock, this unexpected news jarring him from his rising lust. Anger swirled in his stomach, quickly squashing his desire. "How could he do that to—"

"It wasn't his choice," Claire said, anticipating his accusation. "…or Aislinn's. Finn is the son of their leader, and Aislinn is the eldest daughter of the lead hunter — it's tradition for the two to be promised to each other. It was all arranged before either of them could even speak."

Jim frowned, contemplating that for a moment. "But… if neither of them want to be with each other, they can't _force_ them to—"

"Yes and no," Claire sighed, shaking her head in slight frustration. "I don't know the details. I don't think anyone other than Finn's father and Aislinn's parents really know what can and can't be done — and neither of them want their children to break the contract."

"That's disgusting," Jim growled, his lips pulling back in a snarl. "No one should decide who someone can and can't love."

"That's easy for us to say," Claire replied, smiling up at him as she raised her hand to his face again, caressing his cheek with light fingers. "We were born into a society that gave us the freedom to find and fall in love with each other."

"And what does _he_ say about all this?" Jim grumbled, though he couldn't help the fond smile that came to his lips at his mate's words.

Claire frowned, her eyes dropping to stare at the designs swirling through the fabric of his flowing shirt. "I don't know. He's not here. He hasn't been. They said that he accompanied a hunting party out the day before they found us, and they haven't returned. They said it was meant to be a long hunt and not to worry, but Ellie's been beside herself, and I have to admit, it _does_ seem a little too coincidental."

"Would he have deactivated his map, if that were that case? Just for a hunt?" Jim asked, frowning as he was inclined to agree with his mate, as well. If Merlin's explanation of how the magic of the two maps worked was true, then why would the boy nullify his end, knowing how close Ellie was to finding him?

"Ellie doesn't think so," Claire said, shaking her head thoughtfully. "And according to Aislinn, most of the clan's best hunters are still here, so she's not sure why he would have gone on a long hunt with only a few others, none of whom are very skilled. Even Finn isn't that great of a hunter, she said."

"Have you been keeping guard?" Jim whispered, glancing around nervously to make sure they were truly alone, though he scented or heard no one close by.

"As much as I could," Claire replied, leaning forward to press a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth. "You and Eric had me too worried to so much as sleep for any longer than 20 minutes at a time."

"Claire…" Jim sighed, his heart aching as he raised his hands to cup her face and brush his thumbs gently over the deep, purple bags under her eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," she murmured, laying her head down against his shoulder. "But, no one has been anything but welcoming to us, even if a few of the older ones are clearly disgusted by us. They're more inclined to ignore us than confront us. Everyone else has been very kind."

"Then maybe it _is_ all just coincidental," Jim said, nuzzling his face into the top of her head, breathing in the scent of her hair and beginning to purr unconsciously.

Claire laughed, pushing herself back from his chest to look up at him in fond amusement. "You're unusually horny for someone who just came back from the brink of death."

"Ha," Jim snickered, his face heating in embarrassment. "That's sort of your fault."

"Oh, yes," Claire said with a dark laugh, rolling her eyes sarcastically. "I haven't slept or eaten for days, I smell like sour milk, and I'm pretty sure I'm getting mastitis, but yeah! I'm totally hot stuff right now."

"Mastitis?" Jim cringed, hugging his mate a little tighter, finally noticing the unusual hardness of her breasts pressed against his chest. She flinched with the movement, and he murmured a soft apology before loosening his arms from around her.

"I'm used to nursing Ellie, who drinks a lot more than Sophie," Claire explained with a pained expression, clearly missing their little baby. "I don't want to dry up, so I've been expressing as much excess as I could, but I guess it wasn't enough."

"I'd offer to help, but I think you might consider that a pervy move right now," he replied, only half joking as he snuffled into her hair to breathe in her scent again.

"Why? Because you're aroused?" Claire asked with another small laugh, shifting purposefully on his lap to rub against his hardened body. He groaned quietly at the sensation and nipped her small earlobe playfully. " _You_ have permission to nurse on me whenever you want, regardless of whether we're _playing_ or not."

Jim gave a choked laugh, his heart in his throat as he felt the unfiltered love and trust that she pushed across their bond to him, and he had to clench his hands into fists behind her back in an effort to control himself. "It's just… you smell really good."

Claire snorted a laugh, lifting her arms to wrap around his shoulders, her fingers playing with his scruff. "Thank you, but I really don— oh." She froze in his arms, her fingers becoming limp against the back of his neck as she realized the truth behind his insinuation. " _Oh_."

"I can stop," Jim promised, gently releasing his mate from his embrace and letting his arms fall to his sides, his hands clenching in the blankets on the cot. He breathed deeply, taking in her scent, but remained loose and submissive as he watched Claire's expression carefully.

"So soon?" she whispered, laying her head back down against his chest again, her emotions too mixed for him to decipher easily, though he suspected that he could guess, as he felt the same. Grief, fear, anxiety… but also happiness, hope, and anticipation.

"It wasn't my intention to set your body back on track," Jim started, moving one hand to gently caress up and down her back, but leaving her open to move away from him, if she wanted to. "…but I _did_ use a ton of healing magic on you. I guess, it was… enough."

Claire nodded, but remained silent in thought, and they remained that way for a few minutes. Despite his nervousness that she would distance herself from him, Claire stayed in his lap, her fingers even beginning to play with his scruff again. Jim wanted desperately to embrace his wife with both arms, but didn't want her to feel caged, so he continued innocently rubbing the middle of her back in small circles.

"Jim?" Claire asked quietly after a few minutes.

"Hm?"

"Will… will it be Aiden?"

"I…" Jim swallowed roughly, feeling and understanding her trepidation. "I don't know. I won't know by scent until…"

"But the chance is high," Claire surmised, nodding silently to herself. "And the timing is right. It's the end of July in our time and Spring here — May, specifically — and they said Aiden's birthday was only a couple of weeks ago. That's roughly nine months."

"You make it sound like a business deal," Jim laughed, a little hurt at the nonchalant way that she spoke. Finally lifting her head and looking up at him, he could see the pain and fear in her eyes, as well as feel it though their bond. "Claire, if you don't want to risk it yet—"

"But that's the thing," Claire interrupted, giggling in a slightly hysterical way. "I know that there's a slim chance that this won't go as planned, but I… Jim, I want him. I don't want to risk _missing_ him, and I…" she trailed off with a tearful chuckle, removing her arms from his shoulders to reach up and scrub her tears away. "It's going to sound weird, but I think I'll feel better knowing that he's safe inside of me. I mean, I _know_ that it's not like that, because he's nearly a grown boy here, but I—"

"I understand," Jim said with his own chuckle, leaning down to press a lingering kiss to her forehead. "I just don't want you to feel like you are duty-bound to this, or something like that. If none of this time travel had happened, would you still want to try for another baby right now? You said before—"

"I remember," Claire replied, laughing and giving his chin a light lick that scent his stomach into somersaults. "When I said 'no' before, it was more to do with not wanting to make a baby right that second, with our 6 month old trying to make a new Olympic sport out of Mama and Daddy climbing."

"You weren't ready then, anyway," Jim laughed lightly, relaxing at her words and leaning down to catch her lips in his. She kissed him back softly, their tongues tangling in a gentle dance, a simmering passion just below the surface. Leaning back, he brought his hand up to gently caress her cheek. "We still have time, though. We can wait until we're back in our own time."

But Claire was already shaking her head. "No. We're in the middle of a crisis back home."

"Things aren't exactly smooth sailing here," Jim chuckled weakly, gently nipping at her throat, his control slowly beginning to slip. "Claire, you need to tell me to stop, if you're at all not sure."

"Stop."

A little surprised, Jim froze, and then pried his arms from around his mate; however, before he could fully pull away, Claire lifted her arms to wrap around his shoulders again, pulling his head down to press a chaste kiss to his still lips. "Can you wait a few hours? You know…" she smirked against his lips. "…so we won't be walked in on at any moment, and we can take our time?"

Jim relaxed and let out a loud laugh, leaning forward again to playfully nuzzle his mate's cheek, pecking a series of chaste kisses to her face. In an overly exaggerated, but amused voice, he said, "If I _have to_."

"I'll make the wait worth it," Claire promised, catching his passing lips with hers, nipping and tugging on his bottom lip. Before he could become distracted by his mate's not-so-innocent kisses, the flap of the tent was thrown back, and then they were both tackled back against the cot by several bodies.

"Dad!"

"Daddy!"

"You're finally awake!"

"No seep so long 'gain!"

Jim laughed, hugging the pile of children on top of him as best as he could, kissing and licking cheeks until everyone had squirmed their way firmly on top of both himself and Claire. They were all clean and wearing clean clothes, similar to Jim's and Claire's. The thin cot sagged under their combined weight, but held firm. "All right, all right! I'm okay, loves. I didn't mean to scare you."

"Don't do that again," Aiden growled, bumping his forehead to Jim's and giving him a teary glare. "You always put too much of yourself into your spells."

Jim's smile softened understandingly, and he reached up to brush a thumb across his eldest son's cheek. "You're right; I'm sorry. I'll work on holding myself back."

Aiden hugged him tightly in response, but was pushed away as Sophie squirmed between them, using her little wings to shove her brother back. "I wan' hugs an' kisses too!"

They all laughed, and Jim obliged the toddler by pulling her fully into his arms and wrapping her in a tight hug, kissing and licking her face with a deep purr. Once satisfied, Sophie moved into Claire's lap and curled up against her chest, to which her mother rolled her eyes and shifted slightly, as if she could easily anticipate what the little one wanted. A second later, the front of Claire's dress — which was belted over itself, like a robe — was shifted just enough for Sophie to wrap herself inside the layered cloth and nurse as Claire cradled her.

"Eric," Jim breathed in relief as he looked back to his other children, the twins pretty much on top of him as Aiden and Ellie had remained mostly to his side. Eric was unusually pale and his normally sapphire blue eyes were dull and tired; deep, purple bags — not unlike his mother's — were resting under his eyes, and his lips were chapped. "How do you feel, love?"

"Tired," Eric admitted, giving Jim a weak smile, his tail coming up briefly behind him and waving limply, as if to show exactly how tired he was. "But my leg doesn't hurt, and I don't feel cold, anymore."

Jim's throat tightened in emotion, and he let out a shaky breath as he cupped the boy's small, pale and freckled face in his four-fingered hand. "Did you get something to eat and drink?"

"A little," the boy replied, shooting Ellie a nasty look, to which she stuck her tongue out at. "I wasn't hungry, but Ellie made me eat some fishy thing."

"It's good for you," Ellie said, her tone amusedly mothering. "And I didn't make you eat the whole plate."

"I hate fish," Eric pouted, turning back to Jim and giving him and Claire a pleading look. "When you have us back in your own time, please don't ever make me eat fish."

Claire laughed fondly, reaching forward to caress Eric's other cheek. "Mi amor, we live very hand to mouth. What we hunt and catch is what we'll eat; I'm afraid that might sometimes include fish. I'll try to make it yummy."

"Yeah, you didn't mind Mama's fish," Sven said to his twin, shrugging and twining his tail with Eric's.

"That's 'cause she put good spices on it," Eric replied, his pout increasing. "They don't have chili flakes here."

"Well, how about this," Aiden started, leaning forward to briefly nuzzle the top of Eric's head. "I'll trade you your fish for my flatbread, okay? And when Finn gets back from his hunt, maybe he'll have a deer or something."

Jim didn't miss the way Ellie flinched at the sound of her boyfriend's name, but she made no comment and managed to plaster on a soft, encouraging smile when Eric looked to her uncertainly.

"Do you think he might have that bird they had on Feast Day last year? I really liked that," Eric asked his sister nervously, and Ellie let out a small laugh and reached over to gently ruffle her little brother's hair.

"Quail?" she clarified, brushing his hair back from his eyes fondly. "Maybe. That's easy enough for even _Finn_ to hunt down without much effort."

"Is he _that_ bad of a hunter?" Jim chuckled, raising a skeptical eyebrow at his eldest daughter.

"Oh, he's terrible," she laughed fondly, and then gave a love struck sigh. "But he keeps the most beautiful gardens."

"Fat lot of good that'll do when you've got a bunch of kids to feed," Aiden snickered, rolling his eyes, and then grabbed his arm and hissed in pain when Ellie punched him.

"Good thing that I can hunt just fine, then," Ellie replied, sticking her tongue at Aiden as he rubbed his arm and glared back at her. "And we aren't having kids any time soon."

"Thank God for that," Jim muttered, rolling his eyes. "And don't give me that look, Claire."

Claire laughed incredulously, raising an eyebrow at him. "And what look would that be, dearest?"

"The _Jim, you're being a hypocrite!_ look," Jim grumbled, sticking his tongue out at his mate playfully.

"Well, you _are_ ," she replied, snickering as she absently rocked Sophie in her arms. "Not that I don't agree, but we can't exactly chastise her for something _we_ did at her age."

"I haven't _done_ anything, so can we please not talk about this?" Ellie said, her face blooming red in embarrassment. "Like, _ever_?"

"And you said _I_ was traumatized from The Talk," Aiden snickered, elbowing his sister in the ribs lightly.

"Okay, really, what's this big, secret _talk_ you guys keep mentioning?" Eric demanded, some of his spark coming back with his annoyance.

Claire laughed again, giving the boy a fond smile. "Babies, love. We're talking about babies."

"Oh," Eric said, his face clearing in understanding, and then giving his older brother and sister a skeptical look. " _That's_ what you're so embarrassed about?"

"You don't understand, Coffee Cake," Aiden mumbled, rolling his eyes, his face purpling as he blushed as well. "You're not old enough to—"

Beside his twin, Sven started giggling. "We know how babies are made, Aiden."

"What?" Ellie gasped, her face becoming redder by the second as she gave her little brothers a wide-eyed look of askance. "I know Daddy never—"

"Papa Walt let us leave lessons early one day," Sven said, still giggling. "He said we had too much energy and we weren't paying attention, so he told us to go play."

"So, we went home to get some of our toys," Eric snickered, and Jim cringed, already anticipating where this was going. "And Mama and Daddy were… _busy_."

"Oh, boy," Claire groaned, half laughing in embarrassment.

"And then, a few weeks later, they told us all Mama was going to have another baby," Sven continued, shrugging. "So, it made sense that the one thing lead to the other."

"Plus, we asked Papa Walt, and he explained some of it to us," Eric added with a snicker.

"Was that Sophie?" Claire chuckled, shaking her head in exasperation.

"Uh uh," Eric shook his head, his expression dropping from its previous humor to a pained sadness. "Violet."

"I miss Vi," Sven sighed childishly, snuggling into Jim's side and burying his face into his chest. "She was a good baby. She didn't cry nearly as much as Sophie."

"That's because she wasn't thriving, Bean," Ellie replied in a muted voice, her expression carefully blank, though her voice held a certain find softness in it when she spoke what must have been Sven's nickname.

" _What?_ " Jim gasped, looking between his eldest daughter and the horrified eyes of his wife. "What do you—"

"She was born after you…" Aiden started, trailing off with a shaky breath, his eyes clenched shut. After gathering himself for a moment, he opened his eyes again and continued in a soft voice. "Vi was born after you died, Daddy. Without both Mama _and_ you, she wasn't thriving well. Mama was already afraid that she was going to—"

"Don't," Claire gasped, squeezing her eyes shut as tears spilled over, and Jim's chest and throat tightened as he watched her hug Sophie closer to herself. "Please don't say it. I can't stand it."

Fortunately, before any more could be said to further break Jim's and Claire's hearts, a distraction in the form of a tall, white-haired male elf walked into the tent, his expression searching, as though he were looking for someone. When his wide, olive colored eyes landed on Eric, a kind and relieved smile pulled at his lips, which only became wider when he spotted Jim sitting up and interacting with his family.

"Ah, I see both my patients are up and about now," he said in a calm and soft voice. Unlike Aislinn's mother, whose age was indeterminate to Jim, this man was clearly middle aged, his pale skin holding slight wrinkles and lines on his high forehead and around the corners of his mouth. He was also branded with shimmering white tattoos on every patch of visible skin that could be seen, but they were a different pattern than Aislinn's and her mother's. His white hair was tied back in a long braid that flowed down the center of his back, nearly to the floor, and he was wearing clothes that were similar to Jim's in style, but a dark, plush navy color, with golden vines and constellations woven throughout.

"Oh, Turlough," Claire said, sniffling a little as she rubbed her tears away and absently rocked Sophie in her arms, who was quickly falling asleep. "I'm sorry. You wanted to look over Eric, and we—"

"Nonsense, Lady Claire," the man replied, waving a long-fingered hand dismissively. "Family comes first, and this makes it easier on me, anyway." He looked between Eric and Jim carefully, but with the same kind smile. "Now, I can look over you both without rushing all over camp."

"Turlough is the clan's healer," Ellie explained at Jim's confused look. "And Finn's uncle, as well."

"Then you're the one who put us under sleeping spells?" Jim asked in a slightly accusatory voice as he looked back to the older man skeptically.

"A harsh, but necessary enchantment, I assure you," Turlough explained, grimacing uncomfortably, as if he didn't like the idea of having had to use the magic anymore than Jim did. "Your inexperience with blood magic nearly killed you, and that — given the time traveling nature of your current situation — had a rather negative affect on your yet-to-be-conceived children; especially Eric, as he was already severely injured."

Jim's breath left him in a shocked rush, and he gave his children a horrified look, though none of them seemed to blame him. "Oh, Deya… I'm so sorry! I - I didn't consider—"

"We're fine, Daddy," Aiden said reassuringly, rolling his eyes a little. "Turlough is exaggerating a little."

Jim looked to Claire uncertainly, but her expression and the increase in anxiety he felt from her assured him that the healer likely _wasn't_ exaggerating at all. A queazy sensation rolled through his stomach, and he became a little dizzy as he realized the severity of his situation. What was it that Claire's soul had told him? That he had been sleeping in oblivion? Was that her way of saying that he had been just on the border of death?

"Ah, I see some of the magic you were under is still running its course," Turlough said when he noticed Jim wobbling in his seat. He took a few slow steps toward them, his hands stretched out in front of him, palms up, to show that he was unarmed. "That's normal. Like human anesthesia, it can take anywhere from an hour to several hours for the aftereffects to diminish from your system. Magic tends to stick to magic, after all, so highly magical beings tend to take a bit longer to recover." He grinned at Jim, and then Eric, his expression softening paternally. "You're actually doing much better than I had anticipated, Eric, though I suspect you might still be a little sleepy, yes?"

Eric hesitated for a moment, looking uncertainly toward his mother, who only smiled back and nodded, encouraging him to speak. Looking back to Turlough, Eric nodded slowly, his eyes nervously downcast. "I don't want to sleep more, though."

"Why not?" the healer asked in concern, reaching forward a hand to presumably press to the boy's forehead. He paused and looked to Jim for permission, and then proceeded to brush Eric's bangs back and press his palm to the child's skin once Jim nodded his consent.

"What if I don't wake up again?" Eric asked in a scared whisper, and Jim's heart lurched in his chest.

"Oh, honey…" Claire sighed, leaning forward to gently take one of Eric's hands in hers. "You will. You're all better now. When you sleep, you'll be sleeping as you normally do."

"Your mother speaks true," Turlough said with another patient smile, withdrawing his hand from Eric's head, though Jim didn't miss the way the man's eyes carefully roamed over every inch of the child in scrutiny. "You seem completely hale and whole, and I know from experience that a magically induced sleep isn't very restful, ironically. If you are tired, you should sleep… although, I would suggest that you take some time to eat a little something and drink plenty of fluids. You have done neither for a week, now, so you will be dehydrated. The same instructions go for you, Master Jim."

"Right," Jim nodded, watching his son's reaction carefully. Eric pouted and turned into Jim's light embrace, snuggling into his chest, next to his twin.

"I don't want to sleep," Eric repeated stubbornly, but the sound was muffled by his exhausted voice and the fact that he spoke into Jim's chest. "I'm not tired."

"You just said that you were," Aiden laughed, rolling his eyes.

"No," Eric whined, burying his face further into Jim's chest, and he gasped for a slight breath as the movement caused his barely re-healed wounds to twinge in pain. "I don't want to sleep."

"Well, _I_ am," Ellie said, sitting back and stretching her arms above her head and giving an exaggerated yawn. Bringing her arms back down, she elbowed Aiden lightly and addressed him with a hinting voice. "I'm exhausted; aren't you?"

"Oh, yeah," Aiden replied immediately, also faking a yawn. "Man, I could sleep for the whole night and half of tomorrow."

"Good for you," Eric groused, turning just enough to stick his tongue out at his older siblings. "Then you should go to bed. I'm not gonna sleep."

Jim and Claire both laughed at the exasperated look Ellie and Aiden shared, and then Claire detached the now sleeping Sophie from her chest and straightened her clothing. Cuddling the lightly snoring toddler against her shoulder, she brushed her hand lovingly through Sophie's soft hair and gently rubbed the base of one of her horns. Though sound asleep, the motion was pleasant, and the little one began to purr deeply. "Well, _this_ little one has already decided what she's doing."

"I'm not a baby," Eric replied, his voice petulant as he turned his face back into Jim's chest to hide a yawn.

Turlough chuckled, his large eyes sparkling mischievously, and then he nodded in their direction before moving to leave the tent. "Well, you both seem well. I shall leave you to get some rest — or not, if you so choose," he added quickly when Eric turned his face just enough to give the man a dirty look. With another nod, he turned and disappeared beyond the tent flap, leaving the Lake Family alone once more.

"I'm not a baby, either," Sven said in a small voice, reaching forward to grab his twin's hand. "But I'm _tired_ , Er. I wanna go to bed."

Eric seemed to falter at his twin's pleading, but stubbornly shook his head after a moment. "Then go."

"How about a story?" Aiden asked, giving Jim and Claire a pointed, but slightly desperate look. "If you don't want to sleep, we could listen to a story?"

"That's a great idea," Claire said, smiling encouragingly at the cautious look Eric shot her. "What would you like to hear, mi amor?"

Eric thought for a moment, and then opened his mouth hesitantly, looking up at Jim. "I wanna hear about when you and Mama fell in love."

There was a moment of surprised silence, and Jim laughed a little. "Really? You don't want to hear about the fight with Gunmar? Or Morgana? Or Bular?"

"You've told us all those," Eric said with a small whine. "But you've never told us when you and Mama knew you loved each other."

Looking around, Jim saw the surprise and curiosity on Ellie's, Aiden's, and Sven's faces, and he laughed again. "Really?"

"You're a little romantic soul, aren't you?" Claire cooed, reaching forward again to rub her hand through Eric's red hair.

Eric's pale face turned red. "Never mi—"

"No, I want to hear that one too," Ellie said, her voice a soft sigh. "You really _haven't_ ever told us that."

Jim smiled fondly at Claire, who grinned back and shuffled closer to his side, until their shoulders brushed together. "Well… I had a crush on Mama for… _so long_."

"And he was too scared to even talk to me," Claire added with a giggle. "Why was that, anyway?"

"Because you were… _Claire_ ," Jim sighed, as if he were reliving an unattainable dream. That thought reminded him of the actual dream he had most recently gone through, and what he thought he had lost. "Everyone wanted you — why would you notice _me_ , of all people? And you didn't; at least, not until I tried out for the play."

"That's not true," Claire protested indignantly, absently rocking the toddler in her arms. "For your information, I noticed you long before that — before you even spoke that terrible Spanish to me in Gym class."

"You didn't even know my name," Jim laughed, shaking his head.

"No," Claire admitted with light blush, ducking her head slightly. "But I did know who you were. I knew you since the hospital fundraiser my mom put together, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," he replied, dimly recalling the event that he had attended at his mother's behest. Ophelia _had_ put the event together, and it had been hosted at the hospital; he and Claire had only seen each other from across the room, but he remembered thinking that she was the most beautiful girl that he'd ever seen. Though they had locked eyes and shared a smile, it had never occurred to Jim that she might have remembered him from that one event, when he knew that she had attended many a gala and fundraiser with her parents before and since. "I didn't think you would have remembered that."

"You were incredibly handsome in your dress clothes," Claire replied with a fond smile, the corners of her mouth pulling a little higher as she glanced away from him briefly and noticed the enraptured expressions of their listening children. "And you offered to dance with your mother — not many teenaged boys would be so caring."

"That explains why you've always been prepared for my terrible dancing," Jim chuckled, rolling his eyes as his cheeks heated in embarrassment.

"You are not terrible," Claire said, rolling her eyes. "You are an excellent slow dancer. You _do_ get a little crazy with fast songs, though."

"But when did you know you loved Mama?" Aiden asked, cocking his head slightly to the side. "From the beginning?"

"Love isn't like that," Jim said, shaking his head, but grinning mischievously at his son's question. "I just thought she was the most beautiful girl that I'd ever seen. I was attracted to her, but so were half the people at school."

Claire's blush increased furiously. "That's not—"

"Logan?"

"He doesn't—"

"Seamus?"

"Like I would _ever_ —"

"Greg?"

"Oh, come on—"

"Jennifer?"

"I didn't realize she was interested in me _that_ way!"

" _Steve_?"

"He had the last tickets to the Papa Skull concert!"

"See?" Jim laughed, rolling his eyes playfully. "Those are just a few of the people who asked her out."

"I said _no_ ," Claire replied, pouting in an identical manner to Eric's previous expression. The boy in question seemed to notice the same thing and stifled a giggle into Jim's chest.

"But if you really want to know when I knew — _for sure_ — that I was in love with her," Jim continued, grinning fondly around at his children. Turning back to his mate, his smile softened, becoming a little sad. "…it was when Merlin's spell was changing me into… _this_."

Claire's expression and emotions both seemed to freeze for a moment, and then she looked up at him with a mixture of shock and confusion. "But you… you were asleep, weren't you? You were so out of it when you finally woke up that we assumed that you just came to as you were and wandered back on instinct."

"When I first woke up, I had no memory of what had happened," Jim replied, basically half confirming her assumption. "But when I…" he took a breath, still hating the caged animal feeling of those first couple of days in his new body. "…when I was hiding, trying to sort myself out, I remembered everything." Turning back to the kids, he continued in a slightly shaky voice. "The spell that changed me was not a simple one. It literally had to tear me apart and piece me back together; it was excruciatingly painful."

"Jim…" Claire sighed, her voice choked, and she grasped his hand in hers and squeezed tightly.

"The whole time, all I could think about was you," Jim said, turning to smile at his mate, squeezing her hand back lightly. "I was in agony, but the only thing that kept me sane was thinking of you, picturing your face, remembering all the time we'd spent together… that's when I knew I loved you."

"But… you - you were going to leave without me," Claire said after a moment, her voice confused while her emotions and expression became pained. "You were going to leave me."

"Yes," Jim breathed, nodding and closing his eyes against the pain of the memory. "Whatever future that I had imagined for myself was completely destroyed when I gave up my humanity; if I truly loved you, how could I ask you to destroy your own dreams by tying yourself to me?"

"You dingus," Claire replied, laughing moistly as tears welled up in her eyes. She squeezed his hand again and nodded to the children surrounding them, looking up at them with doe eyes and sleepy gazes. "Look at our future now and tell me you would ever give them up?"

"No," Jim laughed, shaking his head. He bent to nuzzle the tops of Eric's and Sven's heads, and then turned to do the same to Aiden and Ellie, who laughed and reciprocated sweetly. "Never. I hardly knew that we would even be able to have kids, at the time, though. I thought I was taking that possibility from you too."

"What about _you_ , Mama?" Eric asked, placing one of his hands on top of Jim's and Claire's own clasped hands. Jim almost smiled at the sleepy drawl in his voice, and he was sure that he would be under in the next few minutes. Beside his twin, Sven was already nodding off and drooling. "When did you know that you loved Daddy?"

"It was just after that time, too, wasn't it?" Jim asked, his heart leaping in his chest as he recalled Claire's declaration of love to him the night after he had become a half troll. As panicked as he had been, as wild and uncontrollable as he had been feeling, her firm promise had broken through to him. Granted, the romanticism of the moment had been slightly ruined when Toby had interjected his own declaration of love (brotherly, though it may have been), but that moment had meant everything to Jim.

To his surprise, Claire chuckled and shook her head. "That's just when I first said it to you, but I knew I loved you even before that."

"Really?" Jim asked, feeling surprised and also a little guilty. Claire shot him a stern look as she felt his emotions, and he grinned apologetically. "Sorry, I just… I don't remember being particularly dashing or romantic before that. In fact, I think I was as awkward as awkward could possibly get."

"Oh, you _were_ ," Claire laughed, winking mischievously at Ellie and Aiden, who were doing a very poor job at holding in their snickers. "But you gave your whole heart behind every effort you made, and it didn't go unnoticed. But the very moment that I fell in love with you was… well," she paused, and he was surprised to feel tremors of fear and grief mix in with her emotions. "Do you remember when the Killahead Bridge closed on you, trapping you in the Dark Lands?" Jim froze, his breath leaving him in a gasp as the vivid memories of being captured and tortured rushed over him. Claire squeezed his hand, sending a comforting emotion along their bond and leaned closer to nuzzle her face against his cheek. "It's okay, mi amore; come back to me. You're not there, anymore."

It took a moment, but Jim was able to collect himself after taking a few deep breaths, his vision focusing on the concerned faces surrounding him. "Sorry… yes. I can't forget that."

"I could see it in your eyes, the very moment that you realized that the Bridge was going to close, and you wouldn't be able to make it back through," Claire went on, squeezing his hand again to remind him that she was there with him. "And I reached for you. I was ready to climb through and trap myself there with you, but then you lunged forward and thrust Enrique into my arms… and then you let go and pushed us back. You pushed us _away_ , knowing that you were trapping yourself in that horrible place. You were willing to sacrifice your very existence to get my little brother back to me, and the moment you pushed us back through the portal to safety, I _knew_ that I loved you, and I was going to do whatever I could to get you back, and then I would _never_ let you go again."

"You must have already known that, though, right?" Aiden asked before Jim — his throat tight and tears stinging at his eyes — could respond. He was looking at Jim in with an intensely curious expression, leaning forward eagerly. Though he had suggested hearing a story as a means to lull Eric into sleep, he seemed just as interested in the tale as his little brother. "You would have still been too nervous to ask her out, then."

Jim laughed, the sound tight and hoarse as it pushed passed the emotions clogging his throat. Glancing fondly at his wife, he noted her own amusement, as well as the glisten of tears in her eyes. "Mama asked _me_ out."

"She did?" Aiden and Ellie asked in unison, their expressions matching in surprise. Jim almost laughed again; despite their different skin tones, certain aspects of their faces and expressions gave away that they were, indeed, siblings.

"I did?" Claire asked as well, giving him a confused look.

"Yeah," Jim replied, giving her a weird look. "You asked me to the dance."

"The _dance_ ," Claire clarified with a laugh, shaking her head. "But that was before you went to the Dark Lands — _and_ you stood me up."

"I made it, in the end," Jim sniffed indignantly, playfully turning his nose up. "Besides, I think I made it up in a really romantic way."

"Until I ruined it," Claire grumbled under her breath, rolling her eyes.

" _Angor Rot_ ruined it," Jim corrected, his smile softening. He disentangled his hand from hers and lifted it to gently caress Claire's cheek. " _You_ were perfect."

"So… who asked who out, then?" Ellie asked with a romantic sigh, catching her brother's arm in her both of hers and hugging him tightly. Aiden made a disgusted noise, but rolled his eyes and leaned into his sister's impromptu embrace.

"I…" Claire started, frowning as she thought. Shaking her head, she looked back to Jim in confusion. "We… didn't."

"What?"

"One day, we were friends, and the next, we were kissing on top of Killahead Bridge," Jim said, chuckling and shaking his head incredulously. "Now I feel like a jerk."

"Well, you asked me to marry you, so that evens things out," Claire replied, giggling. "But, you know… now that I think about it, _you_ didn't say 'I love you' until…"

Jim choked on an embarrassed laughed, knowing where she was going with that line of thought. "I wasn't _not_ going to say it during _that_."

"During what?" Ellie asked, cocking her head to the side curiously, her lips pouting into a wondering frown.

Claire snickered, giving Jim a sly wink, and he felt his face heating more, especially given her increasingly tempting scent, and the plans that they had for later. After glancing down at the boys in Jim's arms and noting that they were both sound asleep, she turned back to Ellie with a grin. "He didn't tell me he loved me until the day we made you."

Ellie's face bloomed red, but then — to Jim's surprise — her expression turned angry, and she glared at him furiously. "Did you say it just to—"

" _No_!" Jim gasped, horrified that his daughter would come to such a conclusion. "No, I would _never_ —"

"Eleanor, I would not have been with him, if I doubted his love, regardless of whether he had said it aloud or not," Claire explained, her voice kind, but firm. Ellie ducked her head in embarrassment, and Jim scented the salt of her tears rising as she mumbled a meek apology.

"Hey, it's okay," Jim soothed, reaching over to his daughter and running his hand through her long, unbound hair. When he came to the base of a horn, he rubbed gently, and she leaned into his touch, purring softly. "Don't think for a moment that you were the result of passion and lust alone. Mama and I _wanted_ you, and we knew you would happen before we were together. If I just wanted sex, there were dozen times before that where we had the opportunity. I would never take advantage of someone like that."

"You know Daddy can tell when Mama is ready to have a baby," Aiden said to Ellie quietly, though his cheeks were purple in embarrassment. "Daddy loves Mama, and he loves all of us, or we wouldn't exist, right?"

Ellie nodded, keeping her eyes downcast as she murmured another apology. "Sorry. I know that, I just… I didn't realize that you were as young as you are, and I just figured—"

"That we were a pair of unsupervised, horny teenagers?" Claire interrupted, chuckling as Ellie's face became redder. "Well, we were that too."

" _Claire_ ," Jim hissed, half laughing in embarrassed mortification.

"But speaking of," Claire went on, ignoring Jim's embarrassment, her own amusement rising as she grinned at the older children and stood to her feet with Sophie asleep in her arms. "It's late, and you all need to get some sleep. Sophie and the twins are down for the count, it seems."

Aiden and Ellie looked to Eric, who was drooling against Jim's chest with Sven, and they both relaxed in relief. Glancing up at his parents, Aiden frowned as he thought over Claire's words. "What does that have to do with horny teenagers?"

"Nothing, baby," Jim said before Claire could antagonize him further. She merely snickered mischievously, and then carried Sophie over to an unmade cot, lovingly tucking the toddler in. Aiden's confused expression lasted for few more seconds, and then he sighed and shook his head, clearly too tired to dwell on his mother's words.

Ellie had already pressed a quick kiss to Jim's cheek, and then she picked out her own cot to curl up in, stretching and yawning as she covered herself with the thin blanket. Smirking slightly at her brother, she gestured to the unmade cot on her other side. "Sometimes I love that my sense of smell is better than yours, Lemon Drop."

Aiden's expression twisted in confusion again, though his cheeks purpled again as Claire cooed over the revelation of his nickname. Jim had turned to lay the twins down in the cot where he had been sleeping, the boys automatically curling together in a well-practiced move, and he laughed lightly as he pressed a kiss to Sven's and Eric's foreheads. Standing, he lightly grasped Aiden by the shoulder and guided him over to the cot Ellie had motioned to. "Go on to bed, love."

"I'm totally missing something, aren't I?" Aiden asked in an exasperated voice, thankfully not resisting Jim's guiding movements and falling on top of the bed tiredly.

Claire laughed, coming up behind Jim and wrapping her arms around his waist, pressing her body along the length of his back. It took all of Jim's mental effort not to turn around, snatch his mate up into his arms, and run off to somewhere secluded right that very second. "You just rest, mi amor. We're going to get Daddy something to eat, and then we'll only be in my tent, okay? Be good until morning."

"I'm fifteen, Mama," Aiden grumbled, rolling his eyes as he turned on his side and pulled the blanket up to his chin. "I'm not a whelp, anymore."

"Of course not, honey," Claire chuckled placatingly, moving around Jim to bend down and press a soft kiss to her son's forehead. Aiden rolled his eyes playfully, but gave his mother an affectionate nuzzle in return, before giving Jim a nervous glance, like he was afraid to let his father out of his sight.

"I'm not going to go anywhere," Jim assured his son, bending to tussle Aiden's hair lightly, understanding with a tightening feeling in his chest where the boy's anxiousness came from. "We won't leave the borders of camp, I promise. We'll both still be here when you wake up, so relax and get some sleep, Aiden."

Aiden frowned worriedly, despite Jim's reassurances, but seemed to ease a little when he glanced toward his sister, and she gave him a sleepy half smile. "Don't worry. Everything is going to be okay now."

Jim's chest twinged again as he noted the hint of uncertainty in his daughter's voice, but her gentle positivity seemed to get through to Aiden, because he relaxed and cuddled further into his blankets. "Okay."

With a few final hugs and kisses goodnight, Claire grasped Jim's hand in hers and started leading him out of the tent. Just before she pulled him through the entry flap, his ears twitched back to hear the whispered conversation taking place between his two oldest children, and he couldn't help but to break down into childish snorts and snickers.

"…seriously, what am I missing?"

"You're such a dummy."

"I am _not_! C'mon, El… tell me!"

"They want to be alone."

"Okay…? Why?"

"For… _reasons_."

"Like… figuring out how to defeat the Draknagoth before all of this happens?"

"Uh… no."

"That's stupid — why else would they want to be alone?"

"They're going off to _make you_ , you dingus."

"…make me?"

"You know…"

"…oh, my god! That's so gross! We are _not_ talking about this!"

"See? Mind your own business next time."

"Ew, ew, ew, _ew_ …"

 _To be continued..._

✧ ✩ _**PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!**_ ✩ ✧


	39. Chapter Thirty-Nine

_Rating: M_ | _Multi-chapter_ | _Paced Publishing_

➳ _Enjoy! I hope to get the next chapter up soon._

 **Chapter Thirty-Nine**

Jim didn't know if the weird looks he was getting were due to his very existence, or the fact that he was still being struck by a leftover snicker every few minutes; however, Claire seemed to be used to the stares and ignored them as she led him through the camp and toward the delicious smell of grilled fish and roasted vegetables. His stomach growled loudly and cramped painfully, reminding him that he had neither eaten nor drank anything in over a week, and he knew that he must have been _really_ hungry, because he was suddenly desiring food more than his mate, which — given her very tempting scent that practically screamed, "Hey, pin me down and make wild love to me _now_!" — was generally incomprehensible.

"How big is the clan?" Jim asked, glancing around at the gathered elves standing outside their various tents. They seemed to be making their way through the residential area of the camp now; rows of huge, canvas tents, woven with distinctive patterns were set up in various clusters, and Jim noticed that each cluster of tents shared the same pattern, but that pattern was different than those of the next cluster of tents. As he noticed this, they passed another cluster of tents, and he saw a miserable looking Aislinn follow her mother inside before they had noticed Jim or Claire; the pattern on the tent — and the tents in its cluster — matched the patterns that were tattooed on Aislinn's and her mother's skins. Catching on, Jim looked around some more, looking for something familiar, and spotted another cluster of tents, dead center to all of the others and _much_ larger; its patterns matched those that had adorned Turlough's skin. What had Claire and Ellie said? Turlough was Finn's uncle, and Finn was the son of the Elven leader… "These are nests, aren't they?"

An older Elven man (Jim decided that Elven males must be more subject to showing the effects of aging than their female counterparts), who looked to be in his seventies, sputtered indignantly as they passed and heard Jim's question, his face turning red in fury. Jim paused and opened his mouth to apologize, already recognizing his mistake, when an ageless, black-haired female — bearing the same tattooed pattern as the male — swept smoothly out of the nearest tent and grabbed the man by his elbow and started tugging him back inside, murmuring something in Elvish to him. Casting Jim another furious glare, the man abided the female's request and disappeared back into the tent with her.

"They're family units, yes," Claire replied, tightening her hand in Jim's and tugging him back along the path. She looked up at him, a tired smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. "I've had to watch my mouth, too."

"I didn't mean—"

"I know," she replied, pulling his arm over her shoulders as they walked and nuzzling into his side. "Most of them understand, but a few of the older ones are… well, Aislinn said that you heard her mother."

"Hm," Jim hummed an annoyed affirmative. "It sounds like she views trolls as animals."

"She does," Claire replied, sighing sadly. "If she weren't helping Turlough with the things he needed to help you and Eric, I think I would have strangled her by now."

Jim would have laughed, but Claire sounded so deadly serious, and her emotions were suddenly so full of simmering anger, that he sobered quickly. "She hasn't threatened you or the kids, has she?"

Claire shook her head, relaxing a little, some of her anger dissipating. "No… just some snide comments. I was tempted to put a small hex on her when she called Sophie a 'mongrel' to her face."

" _What_?" Jim growled, his own anger surging to the surface. He planted his feet and came to a stop, glaring down at Claire in shocked outrage. He half turned back in the direction of the tent that he had seen the woman go into, but Claire grasped his arm, tugging him back.

"Don't," she said firmly, and he felt the rush of a magically induced breeze push him back in the direction that they had been walking in. "We are guests."

"That doesn't give her the right to… to say…" he let out a rough, furious snarl. "Sophie's just a baby!" Jim struggled through his words, growling as the breeze became stronger and forced him to start walking in their originally intended direction again. The wind seemed to sense when he gave up fighting against it, and Claire gave him a little smirk as he turned forward again, scowling.

"Sophie didn't understand the insult," Claire explained, her voice calm, though he could tell that it was a forced calm. "And Ellie threatened her with Finn, if she said anything more. His social status is just enough higher than hers that the threat was enough to keep her mouth shut around us."

"It's not like our social society, at all, is it?" Jim asked quietly, a thrum of nervousness building in his chest, as he glanced around at the thinning tent clusters. They were getting closer to the food smells, and as they did, the tents were being replaced with wildflower and mushroom walkways.

"It's closer to human, but like… _Victorian_ human," she replied, frowning as she hugged his side a little tighter. "They're all about hierarchy and tradition — I mean, so are trolls, but the Elven seem to be _obsessed_ with it. The clan is quite large; from my understanding, the last few Elven clans have been slowly merging together over the past hundred years or so, but their 'stock,' so to speak, is running thin now. Most of them are related to each other, even if it's just distantly."

"You would think that they would be happy to embrace new blood, then," Jim grumbled, remembering Aislinn's mother's harsh words with a sour taste at the back of his mouth.

Claire sighed and shook her head, and Jim got the impression along their Bond that she was feeling frustrated and angry, though not as much as just before. "Our children are _way_ too mixed for most of their liking."

"What?" Jim gave a slightly confused laugh, stumbling a little as the path of flowers and fungi came to an abrupt end at the entrance of a small meadow, and they were met with a long table that seemed to be made of roots and vines woven together and growing right out of the lush, green grass at its feet. The table was lined with trays and platters of food and drink (some kind of spiced wine, by the scent of it); a few late dinner stragglers were seated around the meadow, one or two by themselves, but most were seated with others, chatting and laughing quietly as they ate their meals off of large, stiff leaves. Claire picked up a similar looking leaf from a stack at the end of the table, and started moving down the length of the display, picking and arranging bits of familiar and unfamiliar foods onto it. "Human and troll is too mixed?"

"It's not just human and troll," she replied, relaxing a little as a spark of loving amusement rolled through their Bond. "They are human, troll and natural magic users, yes, but they are also mixed in other ways." She paused to inspect a piece of flatbread that was a little too perfect for his normal liking, and then found a smaller piece that was burnt and crispy. She smiled to herself and put it on the leaf-plate, and then glanced up at him to maybe seek his approval. Instead, she laughed as she met his confused expression. "You are half human, mi amor, and your human half is white — I'm Hispanic. Our children are not only mixed in terms of species, but racially, as well. It seems racism is universal."

Another growl started building up in his chest, but Claire sent a wave of calm emotions over him, and the sound dissipated. Without glancing up again, she continued picking out pieces of various foods for him and placing them on the leaf. She prodded at a pile of rice… but then the rice started squirming, and Jim realized that they were some kind of larval insect. His mate picked up a wooden spoon and plopped a small mound of the critters onto the leaf-plate. Dropping the spoon, she quickly grabbed a small vial of a pinkish fluid off the table that smelled like rice wine vinegar and poured it over the wiggling creatures. Jim cringed as the little things seemed to screech and squirm furiously for a few seconds, and then fall still, steam rising from the pile.

"Baby, I'll eat almost anything, but…" Jim started, his stomach twisting in a confusing mix of nausea and hunger. The scent coming off of the now dead insects was actually pretty good, but the idea of putting them in his mouth and swallowing was not particularly appealing. Even as a troll, it took courage for him to try exotic foods, like rodents and wild game. He had never been an adventurous eater, like Toby, who had no problem trying anything that he could put in his mouth.

"They're Aiden's favorite," Claire said, by way of explaining her choice. "I tried one, and they're not bad, but he loves them. Ellie said that his tastes are more like yours, so I asked him what you might like to try."

"Oh," Jim replied, relaxing a little. His son would definitely know what he would like, if their tastes ran the same; plus, Aiden knew Jim for all of his life, so he would probably have a better insight into his likes and dislikes than Jim currently did for himself. Jim gave a little laugh at the thought. "He's… he's a lot like me, isn't he?"

"You have no idea," Claire giggled, shaking her head. "I was so tired this morning that I must have dozed off, and when he shook me awake, I thought he _was_ you. He did _not_ appreciate the type of kiss that I tried to give him."

Jim couldn't help but laugh as he imagined the mortified look Aiden must have worn. "Poor kid."

"I realized my mistake when I noticed the height difference and the lack of horns," Claire replied, her cheeks pink as she kept her gaze on the food. The plate was practically spilling over now, but she seemed determined to feed him enough food to make up for the past week. "He wouldn't talk to me for hours."

Jim's laughter quieted down into a few sympathetic chuckles. "He _does_ get embarrassed easily."

"Like you, at that age," Claire teased, finally glancing up with a sly smirk, her tongue peeking playfully out of the corner of her mouth.

"Not exactly like me," Jim sighed wistfully. "He's more humble than I am."

"That's because he grew up with a someone he could depend on," she replied, her voice a little hesitant, as if she were afraid to broach the subject. He couldn't blame her; he knew what she was hinting at, and he had not reacted well, at all, the last time she had tried to talk to him about his father.

"I will be," Jim said firmly, catching his mate's hand in his before she could grasp the wooden cup of wine she had been reaching for. She looked up at him in hesitant surprise, and he squeezed her hand in his lightly, holding her gaze firmly. "I will _always_ be there for them and you, Claire. I promise."

She beamed up at him, her cheeks flushing red. "I love you, you dingus."

"I hope so," he replied in a teasing voice, his gaze shifting to the leaf-plate of strange, assorted foods. "…because I think you might be trying to poison me."

"This coming from the man who ate his mother's blender, without a second thought," Claire laughed, giving his hand another squeeze before letting go and grabbing the cup from the table.

"Technically, it was _my_ blender, so I had full rights to do whatever I wanted with it," Jim said, smirking as he followed his wife over to a soft looking patch of fresh, green clover. He wondered at what type of Elves the clan consisted of, or if they were a mix of different kinds; they did not resemble the one Forest Elf he had previously met, and given their racist tendencies, he thought the clan consisting of different elementals was unlikely. Whatever they were, their power was holding up against the encroaching darkness more than well enough. In fact, their camp seemed to be not only thriving, but exuding with Mother Nature herself.

"Oh, hush and eat," Claire chuckled, passing him the leaf-plate as they sat down in the clover patch. She watched as he took a small, slightly frightened bite of the steaming larva. He hummed in surprise as he chewed and swallowed, finding the texture sort of like fresh, spring peas and the taste similar to curry. Excitedly, he scooped up another bite with his fingers and stuffed them hungrily into his mouth. He heard Claire laughing again and looked up to see her offering him the wooden cup. "Don't hurry, or you'll choke."

Swallowing the mouthful he had, he reached for the cup, but then hesitated again. "How strong is this?"

"Not very," Claire assured him with a reassuring smile. "Nowhere near as strong as Glug."

Jim gave her a wary look. "Are you sure?"

Her smile softened, and she brought the cup up to her own mouth and took a large gulp, and he relaxed. He knew that she would not risk drinking anything truly strong when she was actively nursing. Swallowing, she offered the cup to him again, licking a dark red droplet from her bottom lip. Heat bloomed in his stomach and face as he watched the movement, his desire sparking up again, to which Claire felt and gave him a wicked smirk. "Are my powers of seduction working?"

"You _know_ they are," Jim replied, glaring back at her playfully.

"Then you'd better eat, so that you have your energy back," she said in a teasing voice, waggling her eyebrows in such exaggeration that it made him laugh so hard that his stomach ached.

When he had eaten everything on his plate (even going back for more of those larva things — they really were delicious) and downed two cups of wine, Jim pulled Claire to her feet, bending to catch her lips with his, completely unashamed of showing his affection in front of the few elves still gathered in the clearing. There were a few snickers, and at least one offended gasp, but no one said anything, so Jim concentrated on his mate, chasing her mouth with his when she tried to pull away.

"Hold on there, Romeo," Claire chastised laughingly, holding up her hand to press against his mouth and gently push him back. "You promised to wait until we were alone."

"Just to kiss?" Jim whined, pouting as he leaned back slightly to clear his head.

Claire gave him an amused look. "I know where your kisses lead."

"Isn't that the point?" he snickered, quickly wrapping his arms around his mate's waist and yanking her to his chest. Before she could stop him, his lips were running up and down the length of her neck, and she sputtered and laughed, weakly trying to push him back with her hands against his chest.

" _Jim_ ," Claire ground out in a firm, but breathless voice. "Jim, _our tent_."

"I'm sure it's very nice," Jim mumbled, lightly nibbling on her ear, his arms tightening around her body. With his stomach full, he was not as distracted from her rising scent as he had been; though, if she insisted on his stopping, he would force himself to pull away.

"It _is_ very nice," she replied, giggling and using her magic to forcefully put some space between them. Pouting again, he released her from his embrace and took a step back. Claire smiled gently, lifting a hand to gently caress his cheek. "You should come and see it."

"Lead the way," Jim sighed, sighing dramatically and rolling his eyes playfully. Claire snickered, but granted him a quick, chaste kiss before grabbing his hand in hers and pulling him along behind her once more.

Although Jim could tell that she was excited, he could sense her nervousness, as well, and he tried his best to reign in his own emotions to a sense of calm. He was hard pressed to actually pay attention to his surroundings, however, when his wife was exuding mating pheromones at stronger and stronger levels in such a short amount of time. He dimly noted that her nervousness increased as her thumb idly played with his bracelet, and a thought occurred to him.

"Claire?" Jim asked hesitantly as she slowed their pace and turned him toward a large, beige tent that didn't have any markings. Glancing around to reorient himself, he saw the medical tent only a few yards away, several more plainly styled tents lined up in-between the one his mate was leading him to and the one his children were in.

"Hm…?" Claire hummed in response, her hand tightening in his and her nervousness increasing. She pulled the entry flap of the tent aside and pulled him in, and they were met with a warm, but sparsely decorated interior. Instead of a simple cot, there was a large bed that — like the long table in the communal dining area — seemed to be made of roots and vines that were growing up straight up from the ground. It was roughly the size of a queen bed, and it was layered and lined with blankets and furs, and he felt a jolt of familiarity as he recognized the bear pelt that he and Aiden had gotten from their hunt last week. Aside from the very cozy looking bed, there was a smaller root and vine table, topped with a porcelain bowl and a matching pitcher that smelled of clean, crisp water. There was a lower area, like a short pit, on the opposite side of the room from the bed and table, that was lined with cloth and pillows. The whole room was lit with a soft glow from a couple more firefly lanterns hanging from the ceiling.

"Do you…" Jim started, not really sure if he wanted to voice the thought aloud. "I mean… if you want…" he took a deep breath, taking in her delicious scent to distract himself from his sudden uncertainty and self-consciousness. "Do you want me human?"

Claire looked up at him, startled, but he could also feel her guilt. "I just thought… but never mind."

Jim didn't reply, his body stilling in the middle of the room as he steeled himself. He knew that Claire loved him in any form, and her unasked request was more likely borne from mere curiosity than any kind of preference, but he couldn't help but feel self-conscious about it. Truthfully, he was a little curious as to what their love making would be like with them both the same species, as well; what made him nervous was the fact that — according to Merlin — his bracelet was less like a glamour charm and more like a body link of some kind. The charm was made with blood magic that was linked specifically to him, rather than the general magic of a glamour charm.

" _Andra_."

"Jim, what—"

Before either of them could say anything more, Jim was gasping in pain as heat seared through his body. The pain was surprising and distinctly uncomfortable, but not overbearing — nothing like the pain he had endured during his initial transformation into a troll. Still, his body ached and twisted, his muscles stretching and his bones shifting. The top of Jim's head started pounding, and he could actually _feel_ his horns… retracting? He wasn't sure, but it didn't feel good.

All of this happened in less than five seconds, and then the pain and heat were gone, and he was left gasping for breath, staring wide-eyed at his mate as she stared back at him with an as equally shocked expression. He scrambled and clutched desperately at the clothes that were falling off of him, suddenly much too big for his smaller, human body. As he blinked back at Claire silently, he noticed several things, the first being that her scent was no longer overpowering his senses. The second thing he noticed was that he wasn't quite as short as he normally was, if he were to use a glamour mask to disguise himself in his human form; he was standing slightly taller, though still an inch or two shorter than he was as a troll. Jim also noticed that he was _hot_ , the back of his neck beading with sweat, and his face was really itchy.

"Wha—?" Jim started to speak, but then clapped a hand over his mouth in surprise as the sound of his voice came out much deeper and huskier than it had ever been as a human. Granted, he'd never really finished puberty as a human, so maybe this is what he would have sounded like, anyway. As his hand covered his mouth, he jumped in surprise as he felt scruffy hair around his lips, on his chin, and on the sides of his face. He shook his head in shock and long, black hair fell into his eyes and across his shoulders, and he stared down at it in disgust, like it had utterly betrayed him.

Jim heard a snort and looked up to his mate again, only to see her covering her own mouth with both of her hands. She snorted again, her cheeks turning bright red as her eyes widened as she caught his gaze. Despite his sudden loss of his higher senses, he could still feel her soul mixing with his… and he could feel her amusement. Unable to help himself, he snorted his own laugh, to which she started giggling… and then they both collapsed to the floor in ruckus laughter, clutching their mouths and stomachs as their laughter shook their bodies.

"I—" Claire started, crawling across the small space between them, laughing and wiping tears away with the back of her hand. When she reached him, she lifted her hand from her face to cup his cheek, her nose scrunching as she ran a thumb through the scruff on his chin. "I think you need a haircut and a shave, love."

Jim chuckled, leaning back to pull his shirt off, since it was hanging off of him, anyway. He gulped and blushed as he noticed that the hair growing down from his belly button was slightly thicker and growing higher up his torso. Thankfully, his upper chest was still bare, so he didn't have to worry about his human form being a hairy monster. "Well, I guess our romantic plans are ruined."

"No," Claire disagreed with a laugh, leaning forward to press her lips to his. It wasn't strange to kiss her with his human mouth, since he had vivid memories of their many make out sessions from when he was a human, and they had time to relax between Trollhunting missions. The itchy hair on his face was a little distracting, but his lips molded to hers just as perfectly as they always did, no matter what form he was in.

When he felt her hands slipping down from his face and running sensuously over his bare chest, Jim shuddered and pulled back just enough to speak, though their lips brushed together with every word. "Are you sure?"

"Only if you're okay with it," Claire replied, licking his bottom lip gently, before giving him a light nip. Apparently, his fondness for bite play was not limited to his troll half, because he reacted to her provocation immediately by tugging her into his arms and crushing their lips back together in a bruising kiss. She sighed and moaned into his mouth and threw her arms around his neck, tangling in his apparently much longer hair.

Standing to his feet, Jim ignored the feel of his too big pants sliding down his hips and half walked, half dragged Claire along with him across the room. Between their frantic movements, his pants fell to pool around his stumbling feet, and he gasped and fell backward against the surprisingly soft bed. Claire landed on top of him with a grunt, but her lips were back on his before he could even think to apologize for his misstep. His hands moved almost on their own, remembering the way her gown folded over on itself, and he shifted the cloth aside, sliding it down over her shoulders so that her upper half was bare before him. The dress slid down her arms and pooled around her waist, and then she was the one gasping when he swiftly cupped both of her breasts in his palms, breaking away from their kiss to murmur the healing incantation. While his magic pooled in his hands and spread through his wife's body, he felt her relax into his hold, her body un-tensing. He couldn't help but feel a little guilty at this, not having noticed how tense she previously was, though he knew that she had been uncomfortable.

"Better?" Jim breathed, panting slightly with both desire and the amount of power he was using.

Claire sighed again, her eyes fluttering open as she became more relaxed, and she brought her hands up to lightly grip his wrists. "Yes… so much better. Don't strain your magic, though. You're still recovering."

Normally, Jim would have ignored that and kept going, but he was reminded of Aiden's request that he stop putting too much of himself into his magic. Thinking of Aiden, however, reminded him of their intentions, and he immediately pulled his magic back. "Okay."

Claire smiled down at him gently, and then kissed him again, softer and less urgent than before. He responded by wrapping his arms back around her torso, sliding one up to run his hand through her unbound hair and cup the back of her head. As he did this, he rolled them, so that Claire was now lying beneath him, and he dragged his mouth from hers to spread sucking kisses across her jaw and over her neck.

Slowly, they managed to fully undress each other, only taking a few minutes to ponder — and, yes, laugh a little — at the changes in Jim's human form, and then they fell back together. They made love slowly throughout the night, many times over, their bodies slick with sweat and each other, making their movements feel all the better. Jim was glad to find that their Soul Bond was not diminished while he was in his human form, but was just as strong as ever. Between bouts of lovemaking, they talked about a lot of things — some trivial, some not so much; they spoke of their immediate plans and what they should do once the day began anew, and they wondered over how they were supposed to fix this gigantic mess of a future ( _See, Aiden, we're not being_ completely _lust driven and irresponsible_ , Jim thought in amusement, remembering the whispered conversation he'd caught between his two eldest children). He found out that Merlin was apparently keeping his distance from the elves, as they reminded him too strongly of Morgana, and he had set up his own camp just on the edge of the magical border that protected the Elven camp, which he hadn't ventured from, but for a few times.

Nearest to dawn, when they were both exhausted, Jim changed back into his troll form, which elicited an interesting reaction from Claire, as he had still been inside of her when he'd changed. Lust and desire once again sparked along their bond as he felt her reaction and her now overbearingly strong scent invaded his senses. As tired as he was, he reacted immediately, and Claire squirmed off of him only long enough to roll over onto her stomach and look back at him coyly, knowing that behind her was his favorite position when he was feeling all animalistic. Still, he had hesitated, remembering — with a tremendous sense of guilt — the last time he had taken her like this; but she kept her gaze on him, her smile softening, and he couldn't help but to smile back. Carefully, he moved over her, lying on top of her and pressed kisses all along the back of her neck as he moved. He was nowhere near as enthusiastic as he usually was in this position, but she seemed to enjoy his slow movements, sighing, arching her hips to meet his, and tilting her head to catch his passing lips in a deep kiss. When he felt their end nearing, he couldn't help himself, and he grasped the back of her neck with his teeth, biting firmly, but not hard, as he quickened his movements. It didn't take long for them to fall apart again, both of them crying out loudly as the pleasure washed through them, back and forth along their bond, which prolonged their pleasure for several minutes. When their bodies finally relaxed again, Jim found that he was just too tired to move, and that was how they fell asleep — him lying across Claire's back, still inside of her, while she grabbed a pillow from somewhere on the bed and hugged it under her head.

When Jim woke again, he could sense that it was still early morning, the light outside the tent a dim orange, suggesting that the sun was still in the process of breaching the Eastern horizon. He supposed, then, that he could have only been asleep for an hour, at most, and he closed his eyes again, fully intending to go back to sleep.

Sniffle. "Daddy?"

"Hm?" Jim's head shot up again, surprised to hear the teary voice of a toddler calling out to him, and he looked around blearily for a few seconds before his eyes landed on Sophie standing next to the bed and looking up at him with wet, red-rimmed green eyes and a snotty nose. Her little, blue wings ruffled behind her nervously, and she sniffled again, clutching her dingy, cloth doll in her arms. "What's the matter, baby?"

"I woke up," Sophie sniffled, sucking in a huge, gasping breath, like she was on the verge of breaking down into sobs. "An'-an' you an' Mama w-were _gone_ 'gain!"

"Oh, honey…" Jim sighed, his heart twisting at the heartbreak and panic in her little voice. Thankfully, neither he nor Claire had moved since falling asleep, so even though his backside was on full display, Sophie didn't seem to notice or care; she was either too upset by having woken up without her parents, or was not bothered by his and Claire's nakedness. Given the amount of siblings she had, Jim doubted that it was the first time Sophie had seen a bare butt. "I'm sorry, angel. Mama was so tired, I just wanted to make sure she got some sleep." _Not that we really did much sleeping_ , Jim added to himself.

Sophie sniffled and nodded, but her eyes welled with tears that started to slip over onto her red cheeks. "C-can I seep wiff you an' Mama for a wittle bit?"

"Um… yeah, baby," Jim said, hesitating a little as he considered the fact that he and his mate were still intimately connected. "Turn around for a minute, okay? Don't turn back, until I say so."

Sophie sniffled, but nodded, and then turned around so that her back was to him. Jim was a more than a bit embarrassed when the toddler spread her wings behind her in a way that blocked her peripheral view of them, and he realized that she was a bit too practiced in the maneuver. Given her clingy nature, he thought that she had very likely seen them like this before.

Silently, Jim lifted himself from his mate and reached down for his pants, quickly pulling them back on. Claire, bless her, was so tired, that neither the conversation nor his movements did anything to wake her, and he took a moment to readjust her position on the bed, so that she was no longer lying diagonally across the surface. Gently, he covered her up to her waist with one of the lighter blankets before pulling the bear pelt up from where it had been folded at the foot of the bed.

"Okay, Soph," Jim whispered, having pulled the pelt up over Claire's shoulders, but holding it open, so that Sophie could cuddle in between her mother and him. "Climb in, baby."

Sophie dropped her wings back into their resting position, and then turned back and tried to climb up on the bed, which turned out to be just a little too high for her. Jim laughed and grasped the toddler by the middle and settled her down in the center of the mattress, to which she immediately curled up against Claire's chest, turning her head under her mother's chin and sticking her thumb into her mouth. Jim yawned, stretched, and then followed the little one into the bed, covering all three of them with the warm bear pelt, which was doing an excellent job of warding off the early morning chill.

Hugging Sophie gently, Jim pressed a kiss to her slightly pointed ear and pulled her back from Claire just a little. "Careful about your horns, angel."

"Oh," Sophie said, her thumb popping from her mouth as she reached up to pat the top her own head. "I forgot."

Jim chuckled, leaning forward to lick away the snot and leftover tears on her face. "I used to forget too."

"You did?" Sophie asked, turning over onto her other side to face Jim, her movements careful so as not to accidentally jab her little horns into someone.

"My horns didn't grow until I was much older than you," Jim explained, not really sure if the four-year-old would understand the whole magical transfiguration explanation. "So, I wasn't used to having them. I used to bump them on things all the time, without meaning to."

"You have pretty horns, Daddy," Sophie said in a comforting voice, reaching up to pat the top of his head soothingly.

He laughed, pressing another kiss to her cheek. "Thank you, honey. Now, get some sleep, okay?"

"'kay." There was silence for a few minutes, and Jim closed his eyes and was almost back to sleep when Sophie shifted again, her little fingers lightly poking his chest, though — thankfully — on the opposite side of his recently re-opened wounds. "Daddy?"

"Hm?" Jim mumbled, not opening his eyes, as he hoped the child was just going to wish him a goodnight or something, and then go back to sleep herself. Instead…

"You an' Mama smell funny."

Jim cracked an eye open to look down at the toddler, who was scrunching her nose distastefully, and he couldn't help but laugh. "Is that so?"

"Yeah," Sophie nodded, but then she yawned and cuddled into his chest, clearly not too bothered by the 'funny smell.' "Sweaty smell and…" Jim rolled his eyes, already knowing how they probably smelled, and he was just about to tell Sophie exactly that and to advise her to go back to sleep again, when she finished her sleepy sentence. "…candy."

"Candy?" Jim repeated in confusion, laughing at the strange conclusion. "I think you might be hungry, baby."

"No," Sophie insisted through another wide yawn. "I smell candy."

To appease her insistence, Jim took in a deep breath, but all he could scent was the three of them, and the leftover scent of his and Claire's lovemaking; salty sweat, the sweetness of their physical pleasure, and… and…

Lemon; there was the scent of lemon — _candied lemon_.

Jim sat up in shock, startling Sophie out of her half sleep, and she sat up too, rubbing her eyes tiredly. He sucked in another deep breath, this time to calm himself, and he looked down at Sophie carefully. "Angel, did you give Aiden a hug or anything before you came over here?"

Sophie looked confused and shook her head. "No. I scared, so I wen' right to Mama's tent."

"So, you didn't touch him at all?" Jim clarified, trying to school his features into a mask of calm, because Sophie looked like she was about to start crying again. Silently, she shook her head, and he leaned down to pull the toddler into a hug, breathing in her scent as she confusedly hugged him back. She smelled like she always did — cedar and milk; so, then…

Claire, still fast asleep didn't stir even the smallest bit when Jim pulled the pelt back and scooped Sophie up to place the confused child at the foot of the bed. Seeming to understand that Jim was either losing his mind or trying to find the source of the new scent, she stayed where he put her, watching curiously as she popped her thumb back into her mouth. Silently, Jim leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to his mate's stomach, and then breathed in deeply.

"God," Jim sobbed, catching the candied lemon scent again, as faint as it was, and his whole body shuddered as he wrapped his arms around his mate and nuzzled into her torso. Of course, this is what they intended, but for it to happen _so_ fast was shocking, and then there was also the uncertainty and fear: _what if it isn't him? What if we lose another?_ "Thank you. Oh, God… thank you."

"Jim?" Apparently, his sobbing and clutching at her was enough to wake Claire, and he felt her hands run through his hair gently. "Mi amor, wha— Sophie? Baby, are you okay?"

"Is _Daddy_ okay?" Sophie asked back, and Jim laughed at the _he's clearly lost his mind_ tone in the little girl's voice.

"I'm fine, baby," Jim said, his voice husky with emotion as he leaned back to look up to meet his wife's tired, yet concerned gaze. "I'm great."

"What's wrong, then?" Claire demanded, cupping his face in her hands to pull him up her body and away from her torso. Her thumbs brushed away the tears on his cheeks, and she pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. "What's got you so upset?"

"I'm not upset," Jim assured her with another sob, which probably wasn't doing great things for his reassurances. "I'm _happy_ , and I'm _relieved_."

"Wh—" Claire started, but Jim cut her off with an exuberant kiss.

"You smell like candied lemon," he burst out with a delirious laugh as he pulled back. He brought his hand up to cup his mate's cheek, brushing his thumb across her swollen lips. "You smell like Aiden."

"I…?" Claire started, clearly confused, and then her eyes widened as she realized what he was saying. Crying out, she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him back into a deep kiss, sobbing around his mouth in happiness and relief.

"What's da big deal?" Sophie grumbled as Jim and Claire pulled back from each other, and then reached for her and snuggled her between them. She nuzzled them back sweetly, but still seemed confused and grumpy. " _I_ never dat happy to smell Aiden."

Jim and Claire burst into laughter, hugging the toddler tighter between them in joy.

 _To be continued..._

✧ ✩ _**PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW! THEY ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!**_ ✩ ✧


	40. Chapter Forty

⁂ _Hello, my loves! A few people have left reviews (anonymously, so I can't respond), accusing me of abandoning this story. I can assure you that that is not the case. I update at least once a month. Sometimes, if I have extra time, I update twice a month, but that's not common. So, just because it's been two weeks and I haven't updated doesn't mean that I've abandoned this story. I DO have a life outside of writing, unfortunately. ;)_

 **Chapter** **Forty**

Jim woke up again around noon, only to find himself alone once more, though the scent of Claire and Sophie was still strong, so he figured that they had only just left. When his stomach grumbled loudly, he was reminded of his recent unconsciousness. Despite having eaten his fill the night before, he was still weak — not to mention that, during the night, he had burned off what energy he had consumed at dinner.

With a prideful smirk, he stood and stretched, his back popping with the movements. Finding his shirt, he threw it on and made his way out of the tent. He cringed a little when he walked into the midday sunlight, still not used to his new immunity.

"Dad?"

"Hey," Jim said, turning to greet Aiden as the boy walked up to him from the direction of the medical tent. "Did you sleep okay?"

Aiden nodded, pausing in front of Jim with a slightly awkward expression on his face. "I just saw Mama; she was taking Sophie down to get something to eat, but she said that you were still sleeping. I… I was worried."

"I told you that I wasn't going anywhere," Jim chided gently, reaching forward to grasp his son's hand reassuringly.

"I know," Aiden replied quickly, his face purpling with a blush. "I just…"

"C'mon," Jim chuckled, pulling the boy along with him as he followed the path back toward the meadow where he had eaten the night before. "What's for breakfast?"

Aiden laughed, hugging Jim's arm briefly before releasing his hand and stepping back to walk by his side. "More fish. Eric wasn't happy."

"Poor kid," Jim snickered, shaking his head. "He _really_ doesn't like fish, does he?"

"Not unless it's covered in spices," Aiden replied, grinning mischievously. "But they make it pretty bland here."

"So, what's his favorite food, then? And yours? And… everyone's?" Jim asked eagerly as he slowed down to prolong their conversation.

"Wouldn't you rather find out through trial and error?" Aiden said, slowing his walk to keep pace with his father. "This is cheating."

"One could argue that trying to reset Time is cheating too," Jim accused gently, raising an eyebrow in challenge. Aiden rolled his eyes, snickering.

"Eric likes spicy things, obviously," he conceded. "His favorite is chicken enchiladas. Sven likes pineapple pizza."

Jim cringed, grimacing in mock horror. "That's it; he's definitely not mine."

Aiden burst into laughter, shaking his head. After a few seconds, he sobered and whispered, "You were so happy when they were born."

"I'm sure I'll be happy when each of you are born," Jim assured the boy, grasping his hand again and squeezing gently. "Every one of you are miracles." Aiden snorted and rolled his eyes, like he doubted Jim's sentiment, but Jim shook his head, pulling them both to a full stop in the middle of the path. "Seriously, Aiden; you just… we've been so afraid of losing another baby. You don't understand what your existence means to us."

Aiden jerked back, startled. "What do you mean? You've only ever had us."

"No," Jim said, his heart wrenching as he averted his gaze to the ground. "I don't imagine that we would have told you. We… a couple of weeks ago… although, with all this Time magic, I guess it's been almost a month now, in reality… Claire was only two and half months along, but…"

"Mama lost the baby?" Aiden asked in a small, choked voice.

"Badly," Jim confirmed, unable to bring himself to look up. "She nearly died herself. And I… I wasn't there. I didn't even know."

" _What_?" his son yelped, squeezing Jim's hand with his own trembling one. "No, you… you're always with Mama."

"There's a lot of trouble going on, back in our Time," he admitted, still unable to look up from the ground. "I told you before… about my dad." Aiden squeezed his hand gently. "It was… just one more disaster on top of another. I'd been captured by an enemy, and everyone had to come rescue me… _again_ … but, while I was away…" Jim trailed off with a frustrated growl. "I _knew_ something was wrong — I _knew_ it, but I…"

"It's not your fault, Daddy," Aiden said quickly, reassuringly. He tilted his own head down, catching Jim's gaze. "It's not."

Jim chuckled sadly, lifting his head again, and he brought his hand up to gently caress his son's blue cheek. "Claire says you're like me, but when you speak, it's all her. I'm glad for that — I promise to always be there for you, but I don't know if I really want you to be too much like me. I'm way too reckless."

"You're—" Aiden started, clearly intending to argue, but then he cut himself off and grinned sheepishly. "No, you're right. You _are_ too reckless."

Jim laughed, his chest unknotting a little from the emotions bearing down on him. Sobering, he brushed his thumb along Aiden's cheek once more, and then dropped his hand and started walking again, pulling his son along with him. "So, what's your favorite food?"

"Apples," Aiden answered immediately, and Jim laughed when the boy's stomach growled loudly in accompaniment. "And apple pie. And apple strudel. And apple turnovers. And spiced apples. And applesauce. And—"

Jim laughed, bumping Aiden's shoulder with his own. "You really love apples. Got it."

"Oh, and apple _cake_!" Aiden said excitedly, gripping Jim's arm tightly again. "You make an apple cake every year, for my birthday, and it's the _best_! Except…" his grip loosened, and his excitement faded quickly as he stepped back again, looking away. "…except this year."

"Apple cake, every year," Jim promised, pulling Aiden back to him and throwing his arm over the boy's shoulders. "I promise."

"Thanks," Aiden whispered, blushing as he grinned a little.

"And Ellie and Sophie?" Jim prompted. "What do they like?"

"Ellie likes fruit too," his son replied, shrugging. "Her favorite foods have strawberries in them. And Sophie likes venison."

"Really?" Jim asked, somewhat surprised. "I would have thought cookies or something."

Aiden laughed. "Well, duh. We all like cookies, but you asked what her favorite was."

"Hey, now that I think about it…" Jim started, frowning as he slowed his pace again. "What is Sophie's power?"

Aiden shook his head, his smile slipping into a concerned expression. "We don't know yet. She's never shown any kind of magical ability. The rest of us all showed our powers when we were babies, but Sophie hasn't shown anything. Maybe she doesn't have any magic."

"Between me and Claire, I doubt that," Jim said, shaking his head. "She's probably a late bloomer, that's all."

"I hope so," Aiden replied, biting his bottom lip anxiously. "Ellie and I worry… if something happens to both of us, she's only got the twins to look out for her, and they're… well, they're not exactly the most responsible kids."

"It won't come to that," Jim promised. "I swear, I'll—"

"Ah, well, if it isn't the former Trollhunter."

Jim and Aiden both whipped around in surprise at the voice, only to be met with a male elf that Jim had never seen before. He was extremely tall, with long, white hair that flowed down his back, like water, and seemed to sparkle in certain places. It took Jim a second to realize that there were small, silver ornaments woven throughout the man's hair, which glinted when they caught the sunlight. His skin was smooth and ageless, though he exuded an air of wisdom and grace that made Jim think that the man was probably much older than he looked. The white markings on his skin seemed to glow with a subtle, ethereal light that the other elves lacked. Actually, looking closer at the swirling, vine-like patterns covering the man's skin, Jim realized that — glow aside — they were identical to Turlough's.

"Oh," Aiden gasped, and Jim watched in surprise as the boy ducked his head and tilted it to the side a little to expose his neck.

 _He's submitting to him_ , Jim thought in shock. Sure, he hadn't known his son long, but he knew enough to realize that Aiden was stubborn and did not submit to just anyone.

The man smiled, and though it seemed kind, there was a slight curl at the corner of his mouth that sent chills down Jim's spine. "May I have a word, Trollhunter?"

"Uh…" Jim hesitated, glancing at Aiden nervously.

"Oh, forgive me," the man interjected in a flippant voice, waving his hand dismissively. "I forgot that this version of you and I have yet to actually meet. I am the Ceannasaí of this clan. My name is Beathan."

"Nice to meet you," Jim said, straightening his stance and bowing his head just enough to appear respectful, though he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that had suddenly settled in his stomach. "Thank you for your hospitality. It seems that we owe you our lives."

Instead of brushing the sentiment off or ignoring it altogether, Beathan smirked and said, "Indeed. Again, may I have a word?"

"Oh," Jim said, taken off guard by the way the man was speaking. "Uh, sure."

"Thank you," Beathan said, bowing his own head only slightly. His gaze shifted to Aiden, who had been standing nervous and silent. "You are dismissed, boy. Go find your siblings."

Jim bristled and opened his mouth to give this guy a piece of his mind, but Aiden grabbed his hand and squeezed, shaking his head minutely. Turning back to Beathan, Aiden bowed his head again and started backing away, before turning and running off down the path. When he disappeared behind a tent, Jim turned back to Beathan with a frown, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Look," Jim started, unable to suppress the growl building in his chest. "I appreciate that you're helping us, but don't talk to my kids that way."

"I apologize," Beathan said, though he didn't sound very apologetic at all. "I must ask what your intentions are, now that you are awake and well."

"My intentions?" Jim repeated, frowning in slight confusion. "My kids were seeking your clan out before they summoned us from the past; it was my understanding that they were under the impression that you would offer them sanctuary."

"Well, that's presumptuous," Beathan scoffed, rolling his eyes. Before Jim could say something, the elf started to speak again. "But I meant _your_ intentions. Your daughter's ability to manipulate Time has granted you a very… _interesting_ … opportunity."

"We only want to stop the Draknagoth before it has the chance to destroy the world," Jim said, his voice stiff in suppressed anger. He really wasn't liking this guy, at all. "The Shadow Realm was never supposed to breach into the Living Realm; we can fix this, but we need to know the key factor. If we can find out how and why the Draknagoth breaches into our world, and we decide to act in direct opposition of what we then know will come, Time will reset. This universe will dissolve around us, and Claire, Merlin, and I will rematerialize back at the very moment that we were summoned away. From there, we can fight back and prevent this horrible world from becoming reality."

"Have you considered that, perhaps, the world is meant to meet its end, at this time?" Beathan asked, though the tone of his voice was amused and condescending, like he was questioning the logic of a child.

"You have a son, don't you?" Jim replied, biting back the edge of accusation in his tone. "Do you want him to inherit a dying world?"

"There are many things I do and don't want for my son," Beathan said, his expression becoming annoyed. "He is hardly ever of a mind to listen, however."

"And you would want the world to die, just to stop him from doing something that you don't want him to do?" Jim accused, unable to keep the anger from his voice this time. _You would let the world die, just to keep your son from loving my daughter_?

"There are some things that are worse than death, Trollhunter," Beathan replied, turning his nose up slightly and looking down on Jim through slitted eyelids. They were about the same height, but the way Beathan looked at Jim made him feel like the elf was the taller one, and Jim was nothing under his gaze. "Shame, for one."

"We have very different ideas of what the world is worth, then," Jim growled, glaring back at the elven leader defiantly, his scruff starting to stand on end.

"You seem determined to go through with your plan," Beathan said, disregarding Jim's words and his anger. "If so, and you do succeed, I have a request."

"I'm sure I can guess what that will be," Jim said, crossing his arms in front of his chest and continuing to glare Beathan down.

"Indeed," Beathan smirked, nodding slightly. His tone and stance were still casual, despite Jim's rising temper. "I request that you do not _ever_ seek us out. If you even so much as catch a glimpse of one of us, even accidentally, you will ignore us. You will leave us alone, and we will leave you alone; do we understand each other?"

" _Why_?" Jim demanded, grinding his teeth together to prevent himself from baring them. "We could help each other."

"Indeed," Beathan agreed again, and this time, he seemed to soften, his smirk becoming a bit more of a genuine smile. "And we have — many times, over the years; however, I see now that the risks outweigh the benefits."

"What _risks_?!" Jim snapped, rolling his eyes and dropping his arms to his sides. His fists clenched at his sides, trembling. "Our children loving each other?"

Beathan's annoyed expression came back in an instant, his olive green eyes flashing with anger. "Your daughter has single-handedly ruined millennia of tradition by the mere act of existing. Finn is my only child; if I had more, I would not hesitate to disown him for his transgressions and let him live whatever disgusting life he wanted. However, he is the only one that can carry on my lineage, and I refuse to allow him to dilute it by mating with that… that…"

" _Shut up_!" Jim snarled, darting forward to grab the elf by the front of his robes, but before he could start shaking the man, someone had flung themselves against his back, their arms wrapped tightly around his middle.

"Jim, don't!" Claire's voice begged, and he could feel her panic through their Bond and the frantic beating of her heart as she pressed her body along the length of his. "Let him go."

Reluctantly, Jim obliged his mate's desperate request, loosening his hold on Beathan's robes and letting the man step back. Through all of this, the elven leader had remained calm and collected, not bothering to raise even a finger in his own defense. As he stepped back from Jim, he straightened his robes casually, as if he had merely stumbled and was readjusting himself. "Do think about my proposal, Trollhunter; I expect your answer by evening."

Without another word, Beathan turned and calmly walked away, his hand held up in a brief wave of dismissal. Jim couldn't suppress the furious growl that was reverberating in his chest as he glared after the man. "You should have let me—"

"No," Claire answered calmly, tightening her arms around his waist. "It's not worth whatever safety the kids can find with them."

"I don't trust him," Jim growled, bringing his own hands up to grasp Claire's and loosen her hold on him, so that he could turn around. His heart clenched in his chest as he saw the tears streaming down her pale cheeks, and he sighed, leaning down to press his forehead to hers. He brought his hand up to cup her cheek, his thumb gently brushing a fresh tear away. "I'm sorry. I took you from your meal, didn't I?"

"It's fine," Claire sniffled, shaking her head. She tilted her face up to press a soft kiss to his forehead, and then nuzzled into his chest. "C'mon. I left in a hurry, so I'm sure Sophie is probably freaking out."

Jim cringed, but let Claire pull his arm across her back and around her waist and walk him back down the path again. Absently, his fingers played on her hip and side, and he felt himself calming as he took in her calm emotions and lemon-tinged scent. "You didn't run over here, did you?"

"You were mad enough to kill, and I panicked," Claire stated bluntly, giving him a hard glare out of the corner of her eye. "Of course, I ran."

Jim frowned, his guilt becoming worse. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she replied, nuzzling into his side as they walked. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"You're under too much stress," Jim grumbled in response, staring forward as his eyes burned and blurred. "…because of me." Abruptly, Claire pulled him to a full stop and moved out from underneath his arm, walking around in front of him. With a gasp of surprise and slight pain, Jim watched as Claire jumped and grabbed him by a horn, yanking his head down to her level. "Ow! Hey, what—"

"You do _not_ get to do that to me, James Lake, Jr.!" Claire growled, tears slipping down her face again. "Don't you _dare_ treat me like that!"

"I haven't—" Jim started, confused by whatever accusation that she was trying to throw at him, but cut himself off when he saw her other hand stretched protectively over her lower stomach.

"I am not weak or sick," Claire stated firmly and angrily. "I will not be treated like some delicate, little girl who is going to topple over, just because of a little stress!"

"I know that," Jim insisted, biting his lip against another growl. "I do, I just…" he trailed off, closing his eyes in shame as he admitted in a soft whisper. "…I just want you both to be safe."

"Jim…" Claire sighed, her anger dissipating in an instant. She let go of his horn and let him lean back a little, moving her hand down to caress his cheek, and gave him a tired half-smile. "As long as you don't go throwing yourself into bad situations at every turn, we _will_ be safe."

"You didn't hear him," Jim grumbled, pressing his forehead to his mate's and closing his eyes as he breathed in her scent again. "You didn't hear what he said about Ellie. You didn't hear what he said about his _own son_."

"I'm sure I can imagine," Claire replied in a dark voice, leaning back from him and tilting her head up to press a soft kiss to his forehead. She dropped her hands to grasp his and started tugging him back down the path once more. "We spoke a couple of times, while you and Eric were sleeping."

Opening his eyes and falling into step with his wife, Jim squeezed her hand in his gently. "Did he threaten you or the children?"

"No," Claire shook her head, but her frown deepened. "No, he was polite and professional, but he definitely made sure that I knew that we were seriously inconveniencing them."

" _How_ could Ellie really love this kid?" Jim growled, agitation sweeping through him as he thought over the encounter with the Elven leader. "If he's anything at all like his father—"

"James Andrew Lake, Jr.," Claire stated in a firm voice, and a cold fear settled into his stomach as he realized that, not only had she called him by his first _and_ last name ( _including_ his suffix), but she had middle named him too — he was in big trouble now. "You, of all people, should know that a child is not their parent."

Shame immediately hit him, making him feel queasy. "I… you're right. I'm sorry. I just… I still see our baby and not the adult that she is."

"She's not, though," Claire said, sighing and leaning slightly into his side as they walked. "She _is_ a baby still… to us. _This_ Ellie… she's ours, but she's not; she's a product of _this_ universe, and that's…" Claire trailed off, her voice wobbly with emotion, and Jim squeezed her hand again, bringing their joined hands up to his mouth and brushed a kiss across her knuckles. "…that's really hard to come to terms with."

"You think our Ellie will be different?" Jim asked in a quiet voice, not quite sure how to feel about that idea.

"No, not exactly…" Claire replied, shaking her head, and he could feel her confusion and frustration through their Bond. "I don't think she'll be different, at all, actually. That's what makes it hard… if we reset things, so that the Draknagoth never rises to power, this universe will dissolve around us, right?"

"Right," Jim nodded, confirming the theory that they were working behind.

"Jim, I…" Claire's voice was tight and froggish, and her emotions were weighing heavily with grief. "When you were under the sleeping spell, there were a few hours where you almost…"

Jim swallowed thickly, understanding what his mate couldn't say. "I almost died?"

"Yes," Claire whispered, looking straight ahead, unable to meet his gaze as her tears started up again. "And the children… all of them, except for Ellie… they just… they were fading away — and I don't mean, like, disappearing. It was like _they_ were dying too."

" _What_?" Jim gasped, yanking Claire to a stop and turning her to face him, though she kept her gaze on his chest. Of course, he had known that something had happened to the children when he was skirting death; Turlough had told him outright, after all, and Claire's emotional distress at the conversation had clued him into the knowledge that, whatever had happened, it had not been easy. That being said, he hadn't really given it much thought, but now he realized that he _had_ just assumed that it would work in the same manner as Marty McFly's erasure from existence in _Back to the Future_. "What do you—"

"It was agonizing," Claire sobbed, pressing herself closer to him and nuzzling into his chest for comfort. "They were in so much pain, and they were so sick, and there was _nothing_ I could do! God, Jim… I just… if we go through with this, will they go through that again? We're intending to rewrite their histories — their very lives! I couldn't bear to do it, if it means them having to go through that again."

"And yet, we can see that the alternative is much worse."

Jim and Claire broke apart at the new voice, startled by the interruption, but Jim was not surprised — and maybe, even, a little relieved — to see Merlin striding up to them from a converging path to their right.

"But they'll _suffer_!" Claire ground out, glaring tearily at the wizard as he came forward with a stern, but sympathetic expression.

"I warned you both not to get too attached," Merlin said, his voice tired as he came to a stop in front of them.

"Merlin…" Jim sighed, shaking his head slightly against the building headache. "You say that like it's easy."

"It is," the wizard replied, ignoring Claire's emotionally furious expression and giving Jim a pointed look. His heart twisted with anger and guilt as he felt the Amulet warming in his pocket, Ywain reacting to the implication as well, though the soul made no comments in Jim's head about it. Merlin shook his own head after a moment of tense silence, and then turned to Claire. "However, I believe that the circumstances regarding what we intend to do will be quite different than the ones from earlier. This universe — and all of the people within it — will dissolve almost instantly; they will feel no pain, or have any idea that they are disappearing, at all. When Jim was close to death earlier, that was within the constraints of a living future, if you will. The children were affected so badly, because their environment remained unchanged, while their existences were in jeopardy."

Jim's head ached more as he tried to understand what the wizard was saying, and while he thought he could get the gist of it, the old man tended to act a lot on theory and not practical application. He'd assumed his plan about facing Gunmar and Morgana would go off without a hitch, and it hadn't gone at all to plan, though they'd thankfully still won, in the end.

"You're not a parent, Merlin," Claire said bluntly, and neither of them could miss the look of shame that crossed his face as he looked away from them, but Claire was obviously not feeling merciful. "You don't understand, and I don't think you could _ever_ understand."

"I—"

"No," she interrupted the wizard's guilty protest with a raised hand and firm voice, and Jim could feel the anger building in her. "I appreciate your help, and I can see that you care, and I realize that you have changed as a person over the years to someone much better than you once were — but don't you _ever_ presume to know how Jim and I feel about our children. It is _not_ easy to view them in the abstract; they may not be ours _yet_ , but they are still _ours_ , and I _will not_ let them suffer, if I can help it."

"Well, it would seem that I am not the only one to change," Merlin replied sarcastically as he looked down on Claire with a smirk. Jim could still see the shame in the old man's eyes, but he knew that Merlin would play it off. "You are far from the impulsive young lady you once were. Your immediate response to any threat used to be to call upon the darkness and attack without thought."

Claire flushed red, and Jim could feel her anger rising, but there was also a little bit of pride mixed in too. She glared back at the wizard, but leaned slightly into Jim's side. "Nearly being sucked into the Shadow Realm and being trapped there for the rest of my life put a healthy fear and respect for magic into me."

"Spoken wisely," Merlin said, nodding his head and softening his smile. "Odd, that it took motherhood to temper you. As hard-headed as Jim was — and still is — he learned the value of restraint much sooner than you."

"Apparently not well enough, if our latest circumstances are any indication," Jim grumbled, rolling his eyes as he wrapped his arm around his mate's shoulders and hugged her gently into his side.

"You've always been overly protective," Merlin chuckled with a sly wink in Jim's direction. "It is the mark of a great Trollhunter… it may also be why they don't live very long."

"Gee, thanks," Jim replied dryly, and Merlin laughed softly. Before anything more could be said, they were interrupted — once again — by a strange yipping sound, but before any of them could turn toward the sound, Jim felt something barreling into his legs. "What the—"

Claire gasped as she looked down at the small animal that was now whining and growling, using its two front legs to paw and scratch at Jim's leg. "Is that… a fox?"

"She seems upset," Merlin mused, cocking his head to the side. The fox moved back and forth between Jim and Claire, whining and pushing her body against their legs.

"What the matter with her?" Jim asked, bending down to offer his arms to the small, red-furred animal. Surprisingly, she jumped into his embrace with a familiar ease, but she still whined and licked his chin anxiously.

"Do I look like a speak animal?" Merlin replied, his sarcasm making a quick comeback.

"Aiden does," Claire said, petting her hand through the fox's fur, trying to soothe the frantic animal. "She doesn't seem to be hurt, but Aiden could tell us what she's saying. He's probably with the others, getting something to eat."

"Let's go," Jim said, absently rocking the fix in his arms in the same manner he would rock a crying infant. "Shh… it's okay, girl."

She calmed a little at his soothing, like she could understand them, but they still couldn't understand her, of course. As they started walking again (Jim being only slightly surprised that Merlin decided to follow them), the fox burrowed down into Jim's arms, hiding her head in the crook of his elbow, which was a little weird. She didn't seem to be trembling, like she was scared, but she definitely didn't want to be noticed either. They only passed a few elves out and about, most of them looking to be around Ellie's and Aiden's ages; they looked relaxed, laughing and chatting with one another, and offering smiles and waves as Jim, Claire, and Merlin went by. As they neared the eating area, the smells of freshly cooked foods wafted through the air again, making Jim's stomach grumble, but he was distracted from that as the sound of a sobbing little girl also reached them.

Claire gasped as she heard Sophie too, and she and Jim rushed into the meadow, finding the children sheltered behind a juniper bush, a spread of leaf-dishes with an assortment of different foods placed on the ground between them. Ellie and Aiden were both hugging Sophie between them, rubbing her back and talking soothingly to her as she cried and sniffled, while the twins sat back with awkward expressions on their faces.

"What happened?" Claire demanded, swooping around the juniper bush and kneeling by Ellie's side. Aiden, a relieved look on his face, passed Sophie off to Ellie, who then passed the toddler off to Claire.

Sophie clung to her mother, giving little hiccuping sobs. "Y-y-you weft! Sv-Sven an' Eri said you not come b-b-back!"

"That is _not_ what we said!" the twins cried in outraged unison. Eric looked up at Jim, a pleading look on his face. "I _said_ 'It's not like she's not gonna come back.'!"

"You said they not come back!"

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did _no_ —"

"Stop!" Jim said firmly, and while Eric snapped his mouth shut, Sophie wailed out another sob and clung to Claire tighter. "Sophie, baby… we aren't going anywhere without you. Daddy was about to punch someone and Mama had to stop him."

"Jim!" Claire scolded, half laughing in exasperation as she rocked the toddler in her arms, gently petting her wings down into their resting position.

"Mira?" Aiden asked, suddenly, cocking his head to the side as he caught sight of the animal in Jim's arms. At the word, the fox perked up and jumped down from his arms, running over to Aiden and yipping excitedly. "What? Wait, you're talking too fast!"

"You know her?" Jim asked, relieved. "She seems upset about something."

Aiden was engrossed in yipping and chittering back to the small creature, gently petting her head as they spoke, so Ellie responded instead. Her voice held a note of panic in it as she spoke, her eyes wide. "She's Finn's; she never leaves his side."

Jim exchanged an anxious look with Merlin at that information, but before anything could be said, Aiden made a distressed sound in the back of his throat and stood up abruptly. "Aiden, what—?"

"I need to talk to you," Aiden said in an urgent voice, rushing forward to grab Jim's arm and tugging him away from the group.

"No, wait!" Ellie said, also jumping to her feet. She ran forward and threw her arms around Aiden's shoulders to hold him back. "What did she say? What's wrong? Where's Finn?"

"Stay here," Aiden grunted, letting go of Jim's arm to reach up and pry his sister off of him. "We'll be right back."

"No, something's wrong," Ellie insisted, her voice fast and shrill in panic. To everyone's surprise, there was a flicker of light around the girl, and then she was encased in the Daylight Armor, her version of the Amulet beating with a rapid pulse to match the frantic beats of her heart. Her eyes were wild, and Jim could see her pupils becoming smaller, her breathing deepening as she bared her teeth in a trollish snarl. Letting go of her brother, she stood back and instinctively reached for the hilt of her sword, which was resting across her back.

Quickly, Jim silently summoned his Eclipse armor and blocked the swing his daughter had made without thought, the two Daylight blades clashing — one Light, one Dark — with a tremendous amount of white-blue and crimson sparks. Jim growled, his own teeth bared as he pushed Ellie's blade and body back. Panicked as she was, Jim knew that she wasn't seeing her surroundings anymore; like him, when his own mate was in danger, everyone between her and him was a threat.

" _Stand down_ ," Jim snarled, not giving, despite his heart aching at clashing blades with his own child.

" _Get out of my way_!" Ellie snarled, snapping her teeth at Jim, and he jerked his head back, and then shoved forward again, locking his horns with hers.

"Ellie, stop!" Claire cried, and before anyone could stop her, she was also on her feet and running forward to grab Ellie's shoulder. "Baby, stop it! It's Daddy! Can't you se— ah!"

"Claire!" Jim gasped, his strength faltering as he watched, almost in slow motion, as Ellie summoned one of her glaives into the hand not bracing her sword and struck backward, catching her mother in the side. Jim could see that he had thought she was right-handed, but it turned out she was like him in this, too, and was actually ambidextrous. The cut she'd made to Claire's side wasn't deep, but it drew blood, and Jim slammed his horns back into Ellie's furiously as Claire jumped back, clutching at the new wound on her side. The force took Ellie off guard, and she stumbled back, her balance thrown. He kept pressing, forcing his daughter to fall back, and he went with her, bearing down on her form, his knees crushing into her chest as he snarled in her face. " _Eleanor Juliet Lake_ , STAND DOWN!"

Infuriated, Ellie shrieked and struggled under Jim's weight, shoving her blades up against his blocking sword and armor and snapping her teeth, her blue eyes wide and unseeing. She was tapped into the purely troll part of herself, and she was letting it take over. When she spoke, it was only to spit out curses in Trollish, and Jim made a mental note to watch his language around his growing daughter from now on.

"El, get it together!" Aiden shouted, panic in his voice. He made to come forward in an attempt to stop their fight, but Jim snarled, warning his son back. "Dad—"

"Stay back," Jim said firmly, not daring to move his eyes from his daughter's. "She's acting on instinct, and you're a threat."

"We haven't _done_ anything!" Aiden said indignantly.

" _Where is my mate_?!" Ellie screeched, her struggle increasing as she heard Aiden's voice, though Jim kept her horns locked with his, preventing her from turning her head.

 _So much for him not being her mate_ , Jim thought to himself in annoyance. "Eleanor, _listen to me_." Ellie snarled, but didn't say anything back, so Jim took the opportunity to try and speak some sense back into her. "Ellie, I don't know where he is, but if he's in danger, _you are not helping him_ by fighting us. You are scaring your siblings, and you've hurt your mother. I _know_ that you know better than to allow your instincts to take over like this. _Calm down_."

Though it was difficult with the amount of fear and anger he was feeling, Jim managed to produce a low purr in the back of his throat, attempting to calm his daughter's temper on the same instinctual level that she was currently acting on. At first, she struggled harder, but then she made a choking squeak in the back of her throat, and her body went limp. Her pupils dilated, and her eyes filled with tears; she gasped in a huge breath, and then her armor and blades disappeared.

Startled by the sudden change, Jim jerked back, quickly spreading his knees, so that he didn't crush Ellie's chest as her breastplate dissipated, and he fell forward. He ended up straddling her chest, his horns still locked with hers, the Eclipse blade shattering into mist as he willed it from his hands to his back. Beneath him, Ellie covered her face with her trembling hands, sobbing heavily.

"I — I — I'm so _sorry_!"

Jim sighed in relief, allowing his own armor to dissipate. The scent of his mate's blood was thick in the air, though he knew that she wasn't hurt badly. Still, it was enough to infuriate him, and he lifted himself from Ellie's sobbing form and turned his back on her, moving quickly to Claire's side.

"I'm fine," she assured him in a quiet voice, although there was blood seeping between her fingers as she clutched at the wound on her lower right side. She cringed as he pried her hand away from the cut and lifted her shirt to assess the damage. "Ah, careful…"

Jim growled as he saw the cut. No, in terms of permanent damage, it was not bad. It was a clean cut, and it didn't go deep enough to penetrate passed Claire's stomach muscles; however, he could see that it was deeper than he had initially thought, cutting through her skin, into the fat, and had stopped just at the muscle level. Without the aid of magic, she would have needed several layers of stitches.

"M-M-M-Mama," Ellie sobbed like a child, her voice small and guilt-ridden. "I'm s-s-s-so-sorry. I—"

"Hush," Jim snarled, tossing a harsh growl over his shoulder at his daughter. Aiden was kneeling by her side on the ground, his arms around her protectively. " _Do you have any idea what you could have done_?!"

"Jim…" Claire chided, grabbing his hand and squeezing it tightly.

"Dad, that's not fair," Aiden started, his own growl rising in his chest as he hugged his sister into chest. "You said she was acting on instinct."

"And your own existence could have been wiped out because of it!" Jim snarled, glaring his son down. The boy's face turned into a deep purple at the implication, and he looked away in embarrassment. Ellie whimpered pitifully, but remained silent.

"James," Merlin's firm voice cut through the tense silence, and Jim glanced in the old man's direction, only to find the twins and and Sophie cowering behind the wizard's legs, looking up at Jim with fear in their eyes. The fox was lying on her stomach, her ears pulled back against her head anxiously. "I will heal Claire. You need to speak with Aiden about what this animal has to say."

"I…" Jim's stomach plummeted at the fear in his children's eyes, all directed at him. Swallowing thickly, he pulled away from his mate and turned toward Merlin. Sophie folded her wings around herself and the twins hid further behind Merlin. "I'm sorry… I…" he turned to Ellie, guilt flooding through him. "I'm sorry, baby."

Ellie sniffled, not daring to look at him and tucking her head further into Aiden's chest.

"I'll talk to them," Claire whispered, squeezing Jim's hand again. Raising her voice, she addressed their oldest son. "Aiden, you and Daddy go talk. Everything will be okay, I promise."

Aiden hesitated, but then nodded and made to stand. Ellie gasped and clutched desperately at her brother, and Jim could see the panic overtaking her again.

"Ellie," Jim said, walking over to them and placing a gentle hand on top of her head, between her horns. She tensed, but he could feel her trembling too. "Calm down. Whatever is going on, Daddy will fix it, okay?"

...but Ellie didn't respond, and Jim knew that he'd fucked up big time.

 _To be continued..._

✩ ✧ _**PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!**_ ✧ ✩


	41. Chapter Forty-One

➳ _I know, I know! It's my shortest chapter ever, BUT I hope to update again soon. Enjoy!_

 **Chapter Forty-One**

Jim followed behind Aiden closely as they moved through the camp, his heart pounding and his head hung in shame. His son was moving quickly, but with nervous glances around him, like he expected to be attacked out of the shadows at any moment. The fox had followed them and was weaving through Aiden's legs, but she didn't trip the boy up; instead, they moved together fluidly, like they could anticipate each other's movements. Given the soft chittering sounds that they were making to each other, that was likely the case.

"Aiden…" Jim sigh hesitantly after five minutes of quiet power walking. He reached forward and grasped his son's wrist, trying to pull the boy to a stop, but Aiden twisted his hand to grasp Jim's own wrist back and continued pulling him along. "If we keep going, we'll go passed the borders of camp."

"That's the point," Aiden said back in a low voice.

Jim cringed, feeling very much like a child about to be scolded. "Aiden, I'm sorry. I lost myself, and—"

"It's not about that," Aiden replied, glancing back with a small, sad smile. He kept tugging Jim along behind him, faster now, and he could see, and then feel, as they passed through the protective wards of the camp. The taint of the Shadow Realm hadn't reached the area just outside of the wards yet, but it seemed duller than the thriving biosphere within. Aiden pulled him along a few more feet, inside of the tree line, and then stopped and turned to face him. "No one should hear us out this way."

"Hear us?" Jim repeated, frowning in confusion. "What's going on?"

"Mira said—"

"Mira?"

"The vixen," Aiden clarified with an impatient tone, gesturing down to the fox that was sitting at their feet and looking up at them with an anxious expression. "Ellie's right; she never leaves Finn's side. She's his familiar, like how wizards keep familiars."

"Can't they usually speak in human tongues?" Jim asked, trying to recall what little he knew of wizards. Merlin did not keep a familiar, nor had Morgana (though, he supposed, Angor Rot could have been considered her familiar). Claire didn't have one, either, and she'd never said anything about wanting one. Still, he did know a little about the subject, and he knew that the creatures were often enchanted with the ability to speak human languages.

Aiden nodded, and then shook his head. " _Wizards'_ familiars usually are, yes, but the Elven are naturally imbued with nature magic, so they can communicate with animals easily. Well," Aiden paused in his explanation, smirking a little pridefully. "Not like I can. Their communication is more like impressions. _I_ can actually _talk_ with animals."

Jim almost laughed, but there was an undertone of fear and seriousness in Aiden's voice that prevented him from doing so. "So, what did she say?"

"She said that Finn is in trouble," Aiden replied, reaching down to absently pat the fox on the head when she whimpered at the sound of her master's name. "That he's been trapped behind concealment charms."

"The Draknagoth has him?" Jim gasped, a rushing sound building in his ears as his heart pounded.

Aiden winced and shook his head, his brown eyes wide. "No, he's _here_. He never left."

" _What?_ " Jim gasped in stunned confusion. "That doesn't make any sense. How—"

"His father," Aiden said quickly, glancing around nervously again. "Mira doesn't know why, but Beathan is the one concealing him. He's been trapped there since before we came to camp. Mira said that Beathan had caught Finn trying to contact Ellie about something important, but she doesn't know what. Beathan got angry and bound Finn with rope and charms."

" _What_?!" Jim gasped again in shock. His head reeled with this information, and his distaste for Beathan turned into hatred. "How did she get free?"

Aiden looked down at the fox and yipped a question to her, and she yipped back, jumping to her feet and prancing in a tight, anxious circle while looking up at him. Aiden nodded grimly and looked up at Jim again, wringing his hands together nervously. "Finn convinced his father to let her out to hunt for herself."

Jim shook his head, that idea even more confusing than the rest. "But… Beathan knows that you're here. He knows that she can speak with—"

"No," Aiden shook his head, his hair falling loosely in front of his eyes. "You and Mama always told us not to tell _anyone_ about our powers. I don't know why, exactly. I guess something must have happened with Ellie, when she was really little. Beathan knows about her powers now, because you guys are here, but he doesn't know about the rest of us." Aiden paused again to take in a shaky breath. "I mean, I guess he knows that we can use magic, but he doesn't know that we have specific abilities."

"But Finn does?" Jim guessed, and he couldn't help the slightly accusatory tone in his voice as he crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at Aiden.

Aiden swallowed and nodded, looking guilty. "Yes. He… when we were little, he and I would play together, because Ellie was a girl and girls were gross." Jim relaxed a little at that, snorting a laugh. "But I was too little, and he was my friend, and he could speak with animals too… sort of, anyway." Aiden shrugged, looking down. "I think he thought that everyone could do it."  
Jim sighed, shaking his head in defeat. "Okay, so… Finn knows you're here and sent Mira to find you?"

"Yes, but…" Aiden fidgeted, frowning down at the fox at their feet. "She keeps insisting that we leave."

Jim bit his lip, a grudging respect building for his daughter's boyfriend as he realized what he was trying to do. "Then you need to go back to Mama and your siblings and get out of here. I'll—"

"No!" Aiden gasped, unexpectedly flinging himself forward into Jim's chest. His wounds still ached, and he gasped in pain, but wrapped his arms around Aiden's trembling shoulders and hugged him tightly. "No, _please_ don't go after him by yourself."

"Aiden…" Jim sighed, his throat tight in emotion. "Baby, I can't leave him, and I can't put any of you in danger."

"No," Aiden said again, nuzzling hard into Jim's neck. "Every time you go off by yourself, you end up hurt or…" Aiden let out a heart wrenching sob. "You used to tell me that it was because you and Mama and Uncle Toby and everyone worked _together_ that you defeated Gunmar and Morgana. Why would that be different now?"

"Because you are a child—" Jim started, nuzzling into his son's hair and trying to create a soothing purr in his chest, though it came out rather weak.

"Bullshit!" Aiden growled, angrily nipping Jim's shoulder, and he jumped in surprise at both the slightly painful action and the curse word that his son had spewed. Without letting Jim go, Aiden tilted his head back to glare up at his father. "I am the same age now as you were when you first became the Trollhunter. Finn is my best friend and my sister's mate; I'm not going to go hide while he needs help, and I am _not_ going to lose you again. You promised me that you would be more careful."

Jim wanted to argue, but his son was right on all accounts. Instead, he bent his head down and pressed his forehead to Aiden's, his eyes closed in resignation. "Okay, then… but you have to do exactly what I say, _when_ I say it, and that includes running, if I tell you to; is that understood?"

"Daddy—" Aiden growled in argument, but Jim leaned back and opened his eyes to glare down at the boy firmly.

" _Is that understood_ , Aiden?"

"Fine," Aiden grunted, rolling his eyes.

"Promise me," Jim demanded, releasing his hold on his son to reach up and grasp the boy by his shoulders and push him back to glare down at him seriously. "Promise you'll do as I say."

"Okay, okay," Aiden groaned, rolling his eyes again. "I promise."

" _Aiden…_ "

"I promise to do everything you say, even if I don't agree with you," Aiden grumped, stepping back from Jim and crossing his arms over his chest petulantly. "Are you happy now?"

"Not quite, but it will have to do," Jim sighed, letting his hands drop to his sides. He glanced down at the fox, and then back to Aiden. "I'm assuming that Finn is in his family's tent?"

Aiden yipped the question to the vixen, and she nodded in a very human-like fashion, looking between Aiden and Jim anxiously. She yipped something back and pushed her head against Aiden's legs, trying to direct him away from camp.

"No," Aiden growled down at her in English, his voice annoyed. " _Stop it_."

"She's trying to protect you," Jim said, not needing to understand what the fox was saying in order to understand her intent. _Get out of here. Save yourself._ The realization made Jim very uncomfortable, but he couldn't fault Aiden's concerns. "Something is very wrong."

"Then we definitely can't leave Finn," Aiden insisted, gently pushing Mira back with his leg. "Especially if he'll end up taking the fall for us."

Jim sighed again, but nodded. "Tell her that we're going to rescue Finn, and then we'll all leave."

Aiden translated the message, but Mira didn't seem satisfied with that and proceeded to argue (and, in the back of his mind, Jim thought it was hilarious that he could tell that it _was_ arguing), pushing herself insistently against Aiden's legs.

"She's just being loyal to her master's wishes," Aiden huffed in explanation after a minute, glaring down at the animal and shaking his head slightly. Jim could tell that his son was not saying everything that the fox was trying to explain. "And Finn is stubborn."

"Or there's more danger than you're telling me," Jim replied, raising an eyebrow at his son, daring him to lie. Aiden cringed at the look, more or less confirming Jim's suspicions.

"She…" Aiden started hesitantly, his shoulders slumping. "She doesn't really understand _why_ Finn told her to get us out of here, but she said that he… he's not alone."

"His father—" Jim started, but Aiden shook his head, frowning in confusion.

"No," he said. "She said that it's a human girl. Mira said that she's tied up too, but…" Aiden's frown deepened, and he said something to the vixen at his feet, and she responded with a very pained whine, her ears lowering back against her head anxiously. "…there's something wrong with the girl; something not right. She said that she just… waits."

"Waits?" Jim repeated, confused by the odd way the word sounded in comparison to the context of the sentence. "You mean she's unconscious?"

"I… I don't know," Aiden admitted, his expression as equally as confused as Jim's emotions. "That's the word Mira uses — 'waits'."

"Well, whatever," Jim said, heaving a breath of frustration. "We'll get them both. What in Deya's name could Beathan want with a human girl, though?"

"I don't know," Aiden said again, and Jim heard the slight tremble in the boy's voice as he looked up, his eyes shiny with unshed tears. "I… I honestly thought that all the humans were dead."

Jim pulled Aiden back into his arms, his heart aching at the pain his son was going through. He may have his siblings still, but all of his other friends and family were gone. "Hey, it's okay. We're going to fix everything, I promise."

"You better," Aiden threatened weakly, nipping Jim's shoulder again, more playfully this time..

Jim laughed, nuzzling his face into his son's hair, and he breathed in the boy's candied lemon scent with a happy purr. "I love you."

Aiden whimpered into Jim's chest, tightening his arms around his torso. "I'm still going with you."

Jim chuckled darkly, nuzzling his son's hair again before releasing him and stepping back. He nodded down to Mira again. "Tell her to go back to Ellie and try to get them out of here. They may not understand her words, but she's pretty expressive."

Aiden nodded, giving a watery laugh as he wiped a few tears away with the back of his hand. Looking down at the fox, he yipped to her, and she yipped back, a slight whine in her voice. She looked between Jim and Aiden anxiously a few times, and then yipped an affirmative sound to Aiden and turned to run off, back in the direction of Claire and the children.

"All right," Jim said, heaving a resolute sigh. He turned back toward camp, and he heard Aiden's soft footfalls behind him as they began making their way toward the living quarter area of the camp. "This isn't going to be easy."

"Is it ever?" Aiden asked with a slight laugh, though Jim could hear the nervousness in his son's voice.

"Well, I don't think…" Jim trailed off, his voice wavering as they passed back into camp and a few elves milled about, going on with their daily routine. He didn't want to say too much in their presence, now that he suspected that they were being set up for a betrayal. "Let's talk about something else."

Aiden was at his side now, and he looked up at Jim curiously for a second, and then nodded, his eyes darting around to notice the same things his father had. "Um… so… tell me the story of how you and Uncle Toby adopted Chompsky."

Jim laughed, his tense shoulders relaxing a little. From the tone of Aiden's voice, Jim could tell that it was a story that the boy had likely heard a dozen times before, but he obliged and weaved the tale for his son as they walked. It was a relaxed tale, full of laughter and over exaggeration, so anyone they passed who might have overheard their conversation was none the wiser to their true intent. Before Jim could get to the part where Chompsky had escaped his cat crate and attacked his miniaturized self, they rounded a corner and Beathan's family tent came into view. Surprisingly, there was no one around. There were no guards set or even common people milling around. Instead of making Jim relax, it only set his anxiety higher. As they drew closer, Jim sensed no magic or barriers cast over the tent, though he could feel the presence of magic from within. It seemed somewhat subdued, however, like someone putting a towel over a speaker to muffle the sound.

"I don't like this," Jim said quietly, hesitantly approaching the entrance of the tent and cautiously pushing the flap aside a little. It gave way just as easily as any other tent, the soft glow of firefly lanterns emanating from inside. He glanced at Aiden, who looked just as nervous as Jim felt. "I wish you would go back."

Aiden's expression hardened, and he gave Jim a defiant little growl, and then marched forward, pushing Jim's arm aside and disappearing into the tent. Sighing, his stomach twisting anxiously, he followed after the boy quickly.

Inside, the tent was set up comfortably, like a human living area (if humans had furniture that grew right out of the ground, that is). Like in Claire's guest tent, there was a low pit to the side, lined with blankets and pillows, obviously a sitting area of some kind. Unlike Claire's tent, however, the room did not have a bed; instead, at the back of the room, it had a table, long and growing up from the ground, like the one in the communal eating area. This one was scattered with scrolls, parchments, ancient looking books, quills, and a few pots of different colored inks. A couple of earth grown chairs, softened with cushions and fabric, sat in front of the table at an angle, like people had sat in them, and then pushed away. Behind the table, dead center and facing toward the rest of the room was another chair, though far more elaborate; it, too, was growing up from the earth, but the branches were green and filled with budding flowers of all kinds, and even some clusters of berries popping up here and there. Antlers — far too spindly and delicate to belong to any kind of common deer — sprung out of the back of the chair, at the top, like some kind of crown for the chair. Silver and gold filaments were woven into intricate, elven patterns on the antlers, and Jim rolled his eyes as he realized that it was essentially Beathan's throne.

Deya above, he really did not like this guy.

"Here," Aiden said, and Jim pulled himself out of his musings to see his son walking over to another flap in the tent that he hadn't seen yet. Apparently, the tents were much bigger on the inside than they appeared to be on the outside, which sort of explained how whole families could live in them without crowding each other out. They must have been enchanted to be like this, though Jim didn't understand how the magic worked. He made a mental note to ask Merlin about it later. Shaking his thoughts away, he followed after Aiden as the boy pushed the flap aside and said, "This is Finn's room."

Jim moved in ahead of Aiden, not wanting the boy to catch any defensive spell or an attack, but nothing happened. Still, he couldn't relax, especially when he saw the scene before him.

"Finn!" Aiden gasped, pushing passed Jim to hurry to his friend's side. The elven boy was about 16 or 17, with a shock of white hair in a short, tussled cut. He wore loose, linen pants, but no shirt, his tattooed chest bare. Mixed in with the vine-like tattoos that covered the boy's entire body were red welts and cuts, like whip marks. He was kneeling on the floor, his body tied with enchanted ropes to the center tent pole. His arms were pulled behind him, and though Jim couldn't see from his current angle, he was sure that they were tied too. Finn's shoulders jutted forward at an uncomfortable angle, like his arms had been held that way too long, and his shoulders had pulled loose of their sockets. His head was lolled forward on his chest, and his breathing was short and rattling.

"Dea…rtháir?" Finn stirred, lifting his head to stare blearily at Aiden as he kneeled down by his side and started tugging uselessly at the ropes. Finn's voice was surprisingly deep for someone who looked so young and vulnerable. "Wh-what are you…?"

"Mira found us," Aiden explained, nodding toward Jim as he stepped forward to kneel at Finn's other side, summoning his armor silently, and then summoning one if his glaives from his thigh. As he brought the blade down to the rope, the power of Daylight instantly dissipated whatever magic was enchanted into the ropes, allowing the blade to saw away at the fibers.

Finn turned to stare wide-eyed at Jim, flinching back a little, his already too-pale face becoming paler. "Bandia thuas! Ellie used her magic?!"

Jim felt a pang of annoyance and disapproval that this kid seemed to know about both Aiden's _and_ Ellie's powers, but he guessed that he could understand. It was clear that, even if Finn and Ellie hadn't actually _mated_ yet — thank Deya! — they were committed to each other in every other way. "It's a good thing they did."

Finn, however, did not seem to agree. As the ropes gave way, he started to cry out as he fell forward, but bit his lip against the sound, allowing Jim to catch him gently, even as he shook his head and weakly tried to push away. "No, no, no! You don't understand! I told Mira to get all of you out of here."

"She tried," Aiden said, leaning forward to give Finn an affectionate nuzzle, a concerned whine in the back of his throat. "But we couldn't leave you here."

"No, you…" Finn gasped in pained, panting and gritting his teeth. "It's _here_. My father… he made a deal with it! That's why I wiped the map! I didn't want you to find us!"

"The Draknagoth?" Jim demanded, his stomach clenching in icy fear. Aiden whimpered, looking between Finn and Jim anxiously, and then his eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he looked at something behind Jim.

"Yes," a familiar female voice breathed from the shadows and Jim whipped around in shock, his heart pounding fiercely in his throat. There was a shifting in the darkness, and then a young human woman emerged from the shadows, her dark hair falling limp and stringy around her shoulders. Her once green eyes were now pure black, and Jim felt a sob building in his chest as she continued to speak. "But you can call me _sister_ , Jimmy."

 _To be continued..._

✧ ✩ **_REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!_ **✩ ✧


	42. Chapter Forty-Two

➳ _I meant to say it last time, but I forgot - if any of you play the Dragon Age series, you'll realize who I based Finn off of - at least as far as looks. Gosh, I just ADORE that elf. Anywho, get some tissues handy. Enjoy!_

 **Chapter Forty-Two**

"Sarah…" Jim breathed in shock, his stomach clenching and dropping all at once. Instinctively, he moved the little bit needed to shield Aiden and Finn from the girl's black gaze, though it was obvious that she must have seen them already. She had been in here with Finn for who knows how long, and it was clear that _this_ was who Mira had meant when she told Aiden about a 'human girl.'

Jim also felt a strange mix of relief and disappoint swirling sickeningly in his gut. Relief that Sarah was still alive in this dismal future; disappointment, because he realized that somewhere inside his heart, he'd hoped she would be Claire. The silent confirmation of his mate's death — an unknown, future version of her, though she was — was devastating all over again.

"I don't know how you survived," Sarah said in a cold voice, a dark undertone of black magic swirling through her very being. "I was quite certain that I left you more than dead in our last battle. Your intestines were strung up in the trees like garland. It was very amusing."

Aiden whimpered pitifully behind him, and Jim blanched, his body going cold as he remembered the future version of his bracelet that now adorned his son's wrist. He remembered having the realization that Aiden would have had to take it from his dead body to have it with him now. If he had seen his body torn apart…

Deya, it was no wonder the poor kid was so angry and worried all the time.

However, with Sarah's words came another realization: she didn't know that he was from the past — she assumed that the Jim in front of her was the same one that had been killed, and he had survived somehow. That meant that she either didn't know about Ellie's powers, or hadn't considered them, and _that_ meant that, at the very least, Beathan hadn't said anything to her about it. Whether that was on purpose or not, Jim didn't know, but he was grateful for that small piece of luck.

"Sarah," Jim said again, his voice shaky. He wanted to reach out to her, but knew that was a bad idea. She was kneeling on the floor, half hidden in shadow so dark that he was sure it wasn't natural. Despite Mira saying that she had been tied, she wasn't anymore, though whatever ropes she had been bound in may have just been for show. She was wearing a dirty, blood stained t-shirt that must have been white at some point, and the edges of the neck, sleeves and hem were tattered and frayed. If she stood, the shirt would fall only about mid-thigh, and her pale legs were bare. Smudged with remnants of blood and dirt, there was no hiding the old scars that marred her flesh. Some he had seen before, but many of them were newer. Her black hair was loose and stringy, falling around her pale face in oily strands, clearly not having been washed in ages. When she grinned at him, her teeth were yellow and coated in a dark reddish black film. "Sarah, _what happened_?"

"Oh, Jimmy," Sarah chuckled, bending forward to place her hands on the floor, so that she was on her hands on knees. Her hands twisted inward, her elbows jutting outward and she shuffled forward an inch or two. A shudder ran up his spine, and he leaned backward instinctively, throwing his arms out to his sides to protect the boys behind him. Her looks and movements reminded him of the ghost girl from the movie, _The Grudge_ ; the film had given him nightmares for a week, but Jim knew that, if he survived this and even managed to change things so that Sarah would never become this… _thing_ , he would have nightmares of his sister like this for years to come. "We already discussed this, but then, I guess being disemboweled might have had an effect on your memories."

"Sarah—"

"She is not here, anymore," Sarah replied with hissing snicker, a bubble of black saliva oozing down her chin. "That soul is long gone, but if it makes you feel better, you can still call me that name."

Fury boiled up in Jim's stomach like lava, and he snarled, glaring back at the creature angrily. "What did you—"

"Such a lonely, vulnerable soul," the Draknagoth purred, lifting a hand to brush down her body slowly. "So easy to claim. I'm very thankful to this young woman. All my scattered pieces were able to come together, because of her. Now, I am whole. Now, I can take what belongs to me."

"The Living Realm does _not_ belong to you!" Jim growled, bearing his teeth threateningly. "You should have stayed in the Shadow Realm."

"But it's so _lonely_ there," she whined, pouting in what was clearly supposed to be a playful copy of what the real Sarah would have done. "It's so much more _fun_ out here. So many souls to consume. Why should the humans have all the fun?"

"You destroyed the world for _every_ creature in the Living Realm," Aiden's voice rang out in a mix of anger and terror, and Jim leaned back as he felt his son start to move forward, using his back to keep the boy from moving any further. "Humans weren't the only ones here. How is that fair?! You've destroyed _everything_ , and for what?"

"Dear child," she chuckled, another string of black saliva bubbling from her mouth and oozing down her face. "Anyone who would side with those despicable creatures does not deserve a place in my world. Humans are the filth that have destroyed all of the realms. They scatter to the winds and breed and consume and leave nothing but rot in their wake. Look at your kind; look at the elves — both of you have been driven to near extinction because of the infestation of humans. They hate and destroy what they don't understand, forcing those of us who were the first beings of the world to hide in the shadows. I have taken our realms back from the humans. This is a gift."

"But you're killing _everything_!" Finn said, gripping Jim's shoulder with a trembling hand from behind. "How is that helping anyone but yourself and your Shadow Realm creatures?"

"Ah, so you've met my children, have you?" Sarah's black eyes and her evil grin widened, a strange sparkle in her inky gaze. "They are truly beautiful, aren't they? My daughters, the Arachne, are my personal favorite, though there is something to be said for my Draugrs' unique talents. The way that they can drag a person down into their deepest fears and worst memories is mesmerizing." Jim shuddered, remembering vividly the horrible memories, feelings, and pain that the Draugr had inflicted on him with nothing more than a couple of punches. Seeing this, the Draknagoth let out a snicker that sounded more like a snake's hiss. "Oh, I see you've experienced their magic, Jimmy. How delightful."

"Stop calling me that!" Jim snapped, his anger overpowering his fear. His ears were ringing with rage, and he could feel his jaw popping with the force with which he was grinding his teeth.

She laughed darkly. "But the leftover memories I have of Sarah's tell me that that is what our father called you."

" _Shut up_ ," Jim growled again, shrugging Finn's hand from his shoulder and summoning both of his glaives into his hands. Still, he hesitated to strike, even knowing that the girl in front of him wasn't his sister. "Don't you _dare_ try to act like her! You are _not_ my sister, so don't you act like you know her _or_ me!"

"But I _do_ know her," the creature said, running her hands down her body again, one hand gripping the hem of her shirt and dragging it up enough to show off the bare curve of her hip and backside. "I know every dirty little secret. How do you think I was able to piece myself together within her?"

"She would never let you—" Jim started, snarling furiously, but the Draknagoth let out an hysterical little giggle, more oil-like spit drooling over her lips.

"So lonely," she said again, as if that were an explanation in and of itself. "So vulnerable. She was all alone, the life she knew completely torn from her in an instant. And what do humans do when they can't cope with change? They look for the things that they consider normal. They reject anything that makes them question. They want routine and repetition." A spark of some new emotion crossed her face, a divergence from the calm amusement that she had been sporting throughout the conversation. "It's your fault, you know."

"Wh-what?" Jim gasped, his hands loosening on his glaives in shock, though he kept his grip tight enough not to lose them. Behind him, he could hear Finn and Aiden whispering quietly to each other, though they spoke so quietly and the rush in his ears was so loud, he couldn't make out their words. Hopefully, that meant that the Draknagoth couldn't hear them, either. She seemed so focused on him that he didn't think she was even considering the boys, though Jim knew that she was aware of their presence. "What did I do?"

"It's what you _didn't_ do," she hissed in response, snarling and baring her teeth threateningly at him. "You upturned her life, destroyed everything she knew, and assumed she would be _grateful_. Jim, the Trollhunter — the great hero! _But you let them die_!" He had to stifle a gasp when he thought he saw the shadows around her fluctuating, becoming less dense, and the glittering blackness of her eyes seemed to become slightly transparent. For a moment, he was sure that he had seen the familiar green of his sister's eyes. "You let him murder her! You let him murder _himself_! _I loved them, and you took them away from me_!"

" _You_ loved them?" Jim questioned, raising an eyebrow, a surge of confidence coming over him. The Draknagoth paused, her face pouting again as she carefully considered what se had said, and then her calm amusement was back in place.

" _She_ ," she corrected, nodding slightly, grinning once more. " _She_ loved them."

"Sounds like maybe Sarah's soul isn't quite as gone as you'd like to believe," Jim noted, watching her reaction carefully. Her expression twisted into annoyed anger, and she growled low.

"Memories," she said in a flippant voice, though the undertone of anger was very real. "Just memories. They get in the way."

"In the way of what?" Jim asked, leaning forward to keep her attention locked on him. The boys were up to something behind him, though he couldn't see what. If they were working on some kind of escape, he wanted to give them every chance he could; aside from that, the more the Draknagoth spoke, the more he learned, and if Jim could just learn the _one_ thing he needed — the key factor — then he could keep his promise to his children and save them from this wretched reality. "In the way of your control?"

"I _have_ control," she screeched indignantly, black spittle flying from her mouth in fury. "I have _complete control_."

"Sarah," Jim said, lowering his voice as well as his weapon wielding hands. He didn't let his glaives go, but rested his hands down on his knees. "Sarah, I _know_ you're still there. _Fight it_."

" _She. Is. not. Here!_ " The Draknagoth screeched furiously, leaning forward to kneel down into her creepy Grudge Ghost stance again. The shadows around her flickered again, the space around her beginning to take shape once more. The angrier she became, the _less_ control she seemed to have.

"Sare," Jim said softly again, ignoring the terrifying creature exuding from his sister's body. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry… about dad… about your mom…"

" _You didn't care about them!_ " she snarled, her eyes clearing of their blackness again, this time for a number of seconds. Before they become black again, tears the color of oil spilled over, tracking filthy marks down her pale cheeks.

Jim shook his head, his throat tight in emotion. "No, you're half right. I hated them… _her_ … but I wouldn't wish their fate on anyone. If had known—"

"You pushed him into it! _It's all your fault_!"

Before Jim could react, she had flung herself forward with a howling screech, and he fell back as she landed on top of him, the boys scrambling away as they almost tumbled into them. Dropping his glaives with a clatter, Jim barely managed to throw his hands up in time to catch the girl's wrists as she tried to claw at his face with blunted fingernails. She was much stronger than his sister usually was, but she was also possessed by the very spirit of the Shadow Realm, so that must have gone for something.

"L-let him go!" Aiden shouted out from somewhere behind them, his voice trembling, but forceful. A second later, Sarah was screeching again as she was shoved off of him when Aiden threw himself at her, their bodies colliding and tumbling across the room.

"Aiden!" Jim gasped, rolling back to his knees and throwing his own body forward to grab his son around the middle, dragging him back from his aunt. As soon as Jim's arms encircled Aiden's waist, he knew something was wrong, but it wasn't until he felt the hot wetness on his hands that he registered the scent of blood, and the still form of his son's body. " _Aiden_?!"

Jim shuffled back, ignoring the others in the room as he turned Aiden's limp body in his arms, cradling him in his arms and bringing one bloodied hand up to cup the boy's face. Aiden's eyes were half open and unfocused as his head lolled in the crook of Jim's arm.

"Aiden," Jim choked out, shaking the body in his arms lightly, his thumb brushing a red trail across his son's parted lips. A gaping hole straight through the boy's chest left nothing to the imagination… and nothing where his heart should have been. Jim sobbed, nuzzling his face into Aiden's hair, his own heart feeling like it was being ripped out. "Baby, please… oh, Deya… Aiden… please, please…"

A strangled whimper sounded from across the room, and Jim tore his eyes away from his son's blank face to look up, tensing in case he was about to be attacked, though he was so heartbroken at the moment, he didn't think he would care if the Draknagoth struck him dead… again. Across the room, Sarah was sitting on her knees, one hand braced on the ground, while the other was held up in front of her, a bloodied hunk of flesh clutched in her palm. Around her, roots and vines were shooting up from the ground, wrapping around her limbs and torso to keep her from moving, and Jim dragged his blurred gaze back toward Finn. The boy was kneeling on his hands and knees, his head hung low and his body shaking with sobs; while his messy hair hid most of his face at that angle, tears were dripping to the ground around his hands, which were pressed palm down into the earth. Bright green tendrils of nature magic were shooting into the ground from his hands, arcing like lightning just beneath the surface, and causing the foliage to wrap around Sarah's body. She made that strange, choked whimpering sound again, and Jim clutched Aiden's lifeless body tighter to himself as he looked back. She was staring at Aiden's heart clutched in her grip… and her eyes were terrified, human, and green.

"Wh-what have I done?" she whispered, her voice raw and cracking, like she hadn't used it in years; and it was _her_ voice — purely Sarah, no undertone of darkness… for now, at least. "Oh, God… what did I do?"

Jim wanted to comfort her, but he also wanted to kill her. He thought he'd been angry when he realized that his father had left him and his mother; he thought he'd been angry when he'd first become the Trollhunter; he thought he'd been angry when Usurna had framed him and thrown him into The Deep; he thought he'd been angry when Morgana had threatened his loved ones; he thought he'd been angry when he'd discovered the existence of his sister; he thought he'd been angry when Sarah had told him what her mother had done to her for her whole life; he thought he'd been angry when his father had forced him to listen while he killed himself…

…but absolutely none of that could hold a candle to the rage burning in him now. Sister or not, she was the reason Aiden was now limp, bloodied, and lifeless in Jim's arms, and he could not bear the grief and fury that was building up in him. Hugging his son's body closer, he leaned down again, pressing a sobbing kiss to Aiden's forehead, and then gently laid him down on the ground. With the same bloodied hand he'd been cupping the boy's face with, he gently closed Aiden's half opened eyes.

"I will not let this happen," Jim promised his son in a hoarse whisper. In the next second, he was directly in front of Sarah, both of his hands around her throat, glaring down into her terrified eyes. She made no move to struggle, the Draknagoth's strength completely, but only momentarily, suppressed. His hands trembled, his own strength only barely held in check.

"Please," Sarah gasped, more black tears spilling forth. "Please… before it comes back. Do it."

"Tell me how it caught you," Jim growled, baring his teeth, even as his trembling fingers tightened by a fraction.

"Jim—"

"You just _killed my child_ ," he snarled, shaking her as best as he could while the vines and roots kept her locked in place. He knew the second her shock wore off, the Draknagoth would take control again, and neither his own magic nor Finn's would hold up against its strength. "…so I'm really not in a forgiving mood. _Tell me how it caught you_."

"People," she sobbed, lifting her chin involuntarily against his pressing thumbs. "I was alone. I didn't know what to do… so I did what I'm used to."

"What you're used to?" Jim asked, his scruff standing on end. "What do you mean?"

"Sex," she replied, scoffing out a bitter laugh and rolling her eyes. "It's the only thing I've ever been good at."

"It said… scattered pieces," Jim breathed, a slow realization building up in his brain. "And Anson said that… that they were trying to breed… oh, god."

"Each person… had a little bit of it," Sarah explained, her voice tight and froggy in emotion, as well as the pressure he was applying to her throat. "I didn't care… the more I took in, the less I could feel — the less it hurt."

"Sarah…" Jim croaked out, shaking his head. "You weren't alone. I—"

"You weren't there… not all the time," she said, attempting to shake her head, but then freezing as he tightened his grip. "You… you had your own life… you had Claire and your children to protect… you told me once… people — _humans_ — knew about you and were trying to find you. You… you…"

"Kubritz," Jim snarled, new anger ripping through him as he began to piece the puzzle together. "She would know that she could get to me through you, so… I _did_ leave you alone, didn't I?"

"Very alone."

Jim gasped at the dark voice, his eyes focusing on his sister's again, only to find that, while he'd been distracted by his own thought processes and grief, Sarah's gaze had gone black again. Before he could react, the vines and roots around her body disintegrated into ash, and a forceful gust of shadows threw him back. He tumbled, head over heels, until he hit the lifeless body of his son, and he grabbed the boy and curled his own body around him, instinctively trying to protect his vulnerable child from the outpouring of dark magic. A swirling wind was picking up, the shadows thickening until there were surrounded by complete blackness.

"Trollhunter!"

Jim jerked his head up to look in the direction of the shout and saw Finn still kneeling on the floor, his tear filled eyes now up and staring at him in shock and fear. He seemed frozen in place, and then he, too, disintegrated into ashes. Before he could even think to move, the weight in his arms disappeared entirely, and he cried out, scrambling frantically at the ash particles now floating and dispersing into the wind and darkness.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

It wasn't Jim who had shouted, but the Draknagoth, and when he looked back to her through blurred, teary vision, he could see that she was still locked in place, though nothing held her. Instead, she was dissolving too, from the ground up, her body disintegrating much slower as the creature within tried desperately to keep itself rooted. Jim, however, had already guessed what was happening, and he let his body relax, curling forward on his hands and knees to sob into the non-existent ground.

"I am _not_ going to let this happen," Jim swore, clutching his horns in his hands anxiously. "I swear, I won't let you near Sarah, or _anyone_. I will find every scrap of your existence and destroy you, piece by piece, if I have to! I will _not_ let you win."

The wind was brutal now, and he could see distorted flashes of green and white light through his clenched eyelids. He could feel the world tossing and turning, and he could hear the Draknagoth screaming as her existence fell prey to his oath, but he kept his mind's eye concentrated on the image of his future family, making another silent promise to them; he would prevent this horrid reality from ever becoming truth, and he and Claire would have their family, and he would keep them all safe.

The last thing he remembered before the powerful magic and the force of reality literally dissolving around him caused him to lose consciousness, was Aiden's shy and playful smile and his soft voice echoing in his ears.

"Remember to make Apple Cake."

 _To be continued..._

✩ ✧ _**PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!**_ ✧ ✩


	43. Chapter Forty-Three

⁂ _Oh, my goodness! I didn't update in December! Thats the first time that I've missed a month, since this story began. I am so sorry! Obviously, the holidays ere upon us and things were busy. We have a major fundraiser for the non-profit I work at coming up soon, and I've been working non-stop on the since the beginning of the year. There's still some last minute art and marketing that I need to do, but I found a couple of hours to wrap this chapter up for your guys, since you've been so kind and patient! Enjoy, my loves!_

 **Chapter Forty-Three**

"Jim? Claire? Hey, wake up! Merlin! What the heck happened?"

"Daaaaaa!"

Jim groaned, his head pounding. He was _really_ sick of losing consciousness.

"Jim? Hey, Jim! Darce, he's waking up."

"Jimmy Jam?"

"I'm awake," Jim assured his friends, slowly pushing himself up on his knees and shaking his head. Blinking his eyes open, the rock floor below him was spinning nauseatingly. Despite his gaze swimming, he could see his hands braced on the floor below him as he pushed himself up. They were no longer covered in blood, though he was still in his armor. If it weren't for the familiar sick feeling that he usually experienced following being exposed to intense magic, and the slight candied lemon scent mixed with his mate's scent coming from his left, he would have thought his recent experiences nothing but a pixie induced nightmare. Lifting his head, his vision beginning to stabilize, he saw Toby and Darci in front of him; Toby was leaning down by Jim's side, his hand resting bracingly against his shoulder. Behind him stood Darci, who was holding baby Ellie in her arms, swaying back and forth absently to soothe the child, who was twisting back to look down at her parents on the ground, chewing her fingers anxiously.

"Da?" Ellie asked around her fingers, her blue eyes tearing up as she looked at him.

"Daddy's okay, Pumpkin," Jim assured the baby, though it was obvious she didn't understand when she started whining and then crying in gasping infant sobs.

"Oh, Ellie, it's okay," Darci cooed, shushing and rocking the baby gently.

Jim shook his head tiredly, trying to dislodge the last of the dizziness from his brain, and gave a weak chuckle. "You make a good mom, Darce."

Darci's face reddened furiously, she and Toby sharing a nervous glance, and then she shook her own head, smiling weakly. "I think I'll stick with being an aunt for a few more years."

"How hard did you hit your head?" Toby asked, raising an eyebrow as he helped Jim stumble to his feet, his hands braced against his shoulders and chest. Jim sucked in a pained gasp at the pressure, and he allowed his armor to dissipate. As the armor disappeared, Toby's eyes widened and he gasped, his mouth hanging open in shock. "Dude, your chest! What… how did you… why are your clothes disappearing?!"

"What?" Jim asked, frowning in confusion, and then he looked down at himself. His chest was bare, his recently re-opened wounds on full display, because the Elven clothes that he had been wearing beneath his armor were — as Toby had pointed out — disappearing. Darci let out an embarrassed squeak and turned her back, tucking the baby in her arms against her chest, as if to shield the infant from seeing her father naked. However, glancing down toward his still unconscious mate, he realized that wasn't the only one that was in the buff; Claire's own Elven garb was completely gone, leaving her entirely exposed. Thankfully, she was laying on her stomach, so — while her bare backside was on display — her front was more or less hidden. Merlin, meanwhile, was still in his own armor, never having changed into anything different. Jim could only surmise that his and Claire's clothes were disappearing because they, technically speaking, had yet to be made. With more effort than he would care to admit, Jim summoned his armor again, cringing slightly as the chainmail now rubbed against his bare skin — especially in certain, more _delicate_ , areas. "I'll explain later. I have to get to the hospital."

"The hospital?" Toby asked, cocking his head to the side and scrunching his eyebrows in obvious confusion. "What happened to seeing the Elders? _Did_ you see the Elders?"

Jim frowned, his head aching with a growing headache. "How long have we been gone?"

"What do you mean, 'gone'?" Darci asked, turning back around after a hesitant peak to make sure that he was covered. In her arms, Ellie was twisting and turning, struggling desperately to escape her aunt's hold. "It's only been about an hour since you and Claire left to go see the Elders. We wouldn't have gone looking for you, except that Ellie suddenly started throwing the worst fit I've ever seen a baby throw."

As if to prove her aunt's point, Ellie sucked in a huge breath and let out a high-pitched wail at the top of her lungs, causing everyone to cringe back from the sound. On the ground, Claire began to stir, pushing herself up on her hands weakly, her head hung down. "Baby?"

"M-M-M-MA… MA!" Ellie screamed, the sound echoing off the cavern walls with enough force to dislodge a few pebbles and stalactites from their places. "Mama, Mama, Mama, _Mama_!"

Claire gasped, throwing her body back into a sitting position, her eyes wide and frantic as they searched for her distressed baby, her arms already reaching out instinctively. Toby turned his back to her, his face turning red, though Jim was sure that his best friend hadn't allowed himself to really look Claire over.

"Here, here!" Darci said frantically, moving forward to kneel in front of Claire and pass the squirming infant into her arms. "Mama's here, Ellie."

"Ellie?" Claire questioned, shaking her head and blinking down at the baby in her arms in confusion. A few tense seconds passed, and then Claire let out a relieved sob and clutched the infant to her chest, rocking on her knees as she cried into Ellie's soft, black hair. "Oh, mi bebé. Mama's here. I'm here, I'm here."

Ellie continued to cry in clear distress, clinging to her mother's hair with tight fists, and Jim's heart lurched in his chest, recognizing the same instinctive panic in his little baby as he had seen her older self exhibit. Of course, she would be able to feel the manipulation of Time; it was her own ability, after all. They had, for all intents and purposes, been ripped out of Time, and to little Ellie — who had no real mental grasp of what her powers meant or what she could do with them — it would feel as if her parents' souls had been extinguished. Jim clapped a hand over his mouth, his stomach twisting nauseatingly as he realized that the baby had more or less thought that he and Claire had died. Of course she would throw a fit — she had been terrified.

"It's okay, Pumpkin," he choked out, moving to kneel by his mate's side, and bringing a hand up to cover Claire's, cupping the back of Ellie's head. He brushed his thumb across the baby's cheek, wiping away some of the tears, though more spilled over almost immediately. "Mama and Daddy are okay. We're safe; _you're_ safe."

"Shh," Claire soothed, nuzzling the baby and pressing kisses to her cheeks and lips. Lifting one arm, she grasped one of Ellie's little hands that was tangled in her hair and gently tried to pry it away. "It's all right. Let go, baby. Mama and Daddy aren't going to leave you again. That's it, let go and you can have some milkies. Ellie want milkies?"

Ellie cries quieted down into sniffles as she contemplated the offer, and Jim couldn't help but to chuckle a little under his breath. Food solved almost every problem; in this, his daughter took after him, as well. Still sniffling, she released her fists from her mother's hair and nodded her little head. "Mik."

"So full of words this week," Claire cooed praisingly and rewarded the baby by lowering her to her chest. Ellie turned and latched onto the offered breast, the milk having already let down at the sound of distressed crying. Claire sighed tiredly, leaning into Jim's chest, her head drooping and her eyes closed, though he knew his armor was hardly a comfortable place to rest against. "I guess you figured out what happened and how to change it?"

Before Jim could answer, Toby turned back around, his eyes squeezed shut. "Will someone please tell us what's going on? And maybe find some clothes for Claire? No offense, Shadow Dancer, but I only ever wanna see Darce naked, thanks."

Claire let out an embarrassed squeak as she looked down over herself, somehow not really realizing that she was fully naked before that moment, not that Jim could blame her. He hadn't been worried about being naked in front of Toby, and he had known that Darci wouldn't look. Likewise, Claire probably felt the same, not caring that Darci could see her and knowing that Toby would be polite enough not to look; although, apparently, not polite enough to not point it out.

Throughout all of this, Merlin only turned over onto his side and began to snore. Jim was half tempted to kick him awake, but that would mean one more person for Claire to be embarrassed in front of, and he wouldn't do that to her.

"I told you that I would tell you later," Jim said, shaking his head as he stood back up. Ellie whimpered against Claire's chest, her blue eyes riveted to his movements, and Claire rocked her, cooing to her reassuringly. "Go to the Elders for us and tell them an emergency came up, but I have important information to present in Eli's defense. Tell them to hold judgement until we get back. They owe us that much."

"But _what happened_?" Darci asked, her voice exasperated as she looked between him and Claire in curiosity.

"I…" Claire started, glancing up at Jim questioningly. The hand not cradling their daughter to her chest drifted hesitantly to her stomach, her shoulders tensing with the unasked question.

Jim nodded, and Claire's tense posture relaxed again. Jim, however, could not bring himself to be calm, especially as his most recent memories forced themselves to the front of his mind's eye. He knew sooner or later, his mate would insist on him telling her what had happened, and he didn't think he was strong enough to admit the truth to her. All the same, he had no time to think or grieve right now; he _had_ to get to Sarah's side and come up with some kind of plan to protect her… and, also, he had to muster up the courage to face her and tell her what their father had done.

"Just go get some clothes and get to where you need to be," Toby said, his back still turned, but clearly sensing the tension in the air. "We'll take care of Merlin and go talk to the Elders for you."

Jim nodded, leaning down to grasp Claire's elbow and help her stand. ON her other side, Darci stood as well, her hands grasping Claire's other elbow to help steady her when she wobbled a little on her feet.

"Claire, what happened to your side?!" Darci gasped suddenly, letting Claire go to gently brush her fingers over the still-red, but now sealed gash marring her pale flesh.

"Oh," Claire said, cringing back from the touch a little. "Nothing. It was just an accident. Merlin healed it, but said it wouldn't clear up for a couple of days."

"But it looks deep!" Darci insisted, chewing her lip, her eyes beginning to glow wetly. "Oh, Claire…"

"I'll be okay," Claire assured her sister, leaning closer to the girl to give her a reassuring nuzzle. "Just make sure no one destroys my cave while we're gone, okay? And Ellie will come with us, so you don't have to worry about her."

"Really don't know what happened," Toby grunted, shrugging slightly with his back still turned toward Claire, though he chanced a side glance in Jim's direction. "She's usually really good with her Uncle T.P. and Aunt Darce. She just… lost it."

"I think I know what happened," Jim assured his best friend. "I'll explain later, but I don't think she'll tolerate being babysat for awhile. She'll be safe with us, but we need to hurry."

"Okay," Claire nodded, her expression becoming firm. "Let's hurry home and get some clothes. Uh…" she hesitated, blushing as she gave Darci a desperate look. "Could you and Toby run ahead and clear everyone out?"

"Sure thing, Claire Bear," Darci said, smiling reassuringly at the pair of them. She reached over and grabbed Toby's hand, and he closed his eyes as he turned. Darci led him further up the path, Toby's eyes closed until his back was to Claire again, and then they ran off and disappeared passed the bend of the tunnel.

"Okay, what happened?" Claire demanded in a quiet voice as soon as Darci and Toby were out of earshot, and they started trailing down the path after them, leaving enough space and time for them to warn the others.

Jim's heart twisted again, his vision blurring as tears filled his eyes, and he opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't get anything passed the tightness in his throat. "I… I…"

Claire, however, didn't need his words, because she could perfectly feel his emotions along their Soul Bond. Freezing in place, she looked up at him in horror, her own eyes filling with tears. "No… oh, Jim…"

"It won't happen," Jim swore, growling savagely and squeezing his eyes shut tightly. "I won't let it happen. I know what to do now."

"Then why are we going to the hospital?"

Slowly — with many pauses to recollect his emotions — Jim tried to explain what he had learned. He could't bring himself to talk about Aiden; at least, not his future self and the fate he had endured that Jim was determined to circumvent. He _would_ _not_ allow his children to suffer, and as he and Claire discussed the situation, they slowly came up with a plan. Granted, it all depended on Sarah's reaction and her willingness to go along with said plan — which, admittedly, was a long shot — but it was a start, and it was a thousand times worth every effort to convince her. Honestly, with his children's lives at stake, Jim was willing to force his sister to go along with this, if he had to, though he hoped it wouldn't come to that.

After finding himself and Claire some clothes and wrestling Ellie into some comfortable, human friendly clothes of her own (who would have thought that a baby would be grumpy about being forced to wear a cap in the middle of summer?), Jim called Strickler. He couldn't explain too much over the phone for multiple reasons, but he managed to convince his would-be step father to lock himself in a bathroom, so that Jim, Claire, and Ellie could portal to him without being noticed by anyone or by any cameras. The fact that it was the middle of the night helped, as far as people traffic went.

"I didn't know you were bringing Ellie," Strickler said when the magic cleared and the Glamour Masked changeling saw the three of them, and then he sputtered and did a double take when he took in Jim's human form. "Wait, who—?"

"It's me," Jim sighed, rolling his eyes, lifting a hand to rub at the annoying scruff on his face that he hadn't had the tools or time to shave. Claire had pulled his longer hair into a messy bun on the top of his head; he hadn't caught his reflection in anything, thank Deya, but he was sure that he must look like some kind of hipster. Though he didn't like it, always having preferred a cleaner look, he looked different enough now that, should Kubritz or any of her goons show up, they wouldn't recognize him right away. "Merlin made a glamour charm for me, using some blood magic. I'm… _me_ again. Sort of, anyway. I guess my human self did some maturing in the past year; I didn't have time to clean up."

Strickler clearly didn't know whether to laugh or cringe, so he turned to Claire and offered his arms for the baby instead. "Hello, there, my girl. May Papa have a hug?"

Ellie whined and shook her head, tucking her face into Claire's shoulder, while reaching up to try and tug her cap off again.

"No, mi amor," Claire cooped, gently prying the baby's hand away and straightened her cap. "You have to keep it on right now." Giving Strickler an apologetic smile, she continued, "Sorry, Mr. Strickler; she's really upset and clingy right now."

"That's all right," Strickler replied with a concerned frown, lowering his arms and glancing back to Jim. "What's the hurry? Sarah's still unconscious and… the police are here."

" _Damn it_ ," Jim cursed, biting his lip anxiously. "Is Mom…?"

"They're speaking to her now," Strickler said, nodding in confirmation at the unasked question. The older man's frown deepened, looking away from them briefly. "She… she's not… handling things well."

"That makes two of us, then," Jim admitted with a frustrated sigh and a tight voice. "The military hasn't shown up, have they?"

"Not yet," Strickler replied, crossing his arms in front of himself nervously. Jim knew that his wings would be twitching right now, if they were visible. "I suspect it won't be long."

"Damn it, Dad," Jim cursed under his breath, pressing his hands to his face and shaking his head. "You've really messed things up."

"I…" Strickler started, hesitating. "I heard… he made you listen… I'm so sorry, So— Jim."

Jim cringed back at the forced reminder, but couldn't blame Strickler for bringing it up. He didn't do it to hurt Jim, and he knew that. "Thank you. I'm… okay. I mean…" he lifted his head from his hands and reached for his mate's hand, clutching it desperately in his own when she gave it to him. Jim gave her a weak smile, and then turned back to his mother's boyfriend. "I wasn't okay, but… I am now. Better than I was, at least. I'm… more worried about Sarah, right now. I'm not sure… how to tell her."

"You won't be alone," Claire assured him with a gentle squeeze of his hand. Even Ellie, who was fussy and hadn't taken to Jim's new look well at all, let out a plaintive "Da…" while giving him a small smile.

Strickler's lips twitched up with a slight smile at the baby's words, and he reached over to grip Jim's shoulder bracingly. "Claire's right. You need only ask for help, and you have it."

"Thanks," Jim sighed, lifting his free hand to grasp Strickler's on his shoulder. "I need to be by Sarah's side. I can't explain now, but she _can't_ be alone."

"I doubt that will be easy," Strickler said, frowning again. "The police want to speak with her as soon as she wakes. Your mother has asked that they let her talk to her first, but given that she's your father's ex-wife…"

"It's a compromised position," Jim surmised, nodding in understanding.

"Hm…" Claire hummed to herself thoughtfully, giving Jim a calculating once-over. "You know…"

"What?" Jim and Strickler prompted at the same time, glancing at each other nervously at the slightly amused smirk growing on Claire's face.

"They wouldn't keep Sarah's _fiancé_ from sitting with her until she wakes."

"Babe," Jim started, frowning in confusion. "I'm pretty sure Sarah doesn't have a long-term partner, let alone a fiancé."

Claire laughed, her hand tightening on his left, and he felt her fiddling with his ring finger. A second later, she let his hand go, and then lifted hers to show them the ring that now adorned the index finger of her right hand. "Now she does."

"Wha—" Jim gasped, jerking his hand up to stare at his now ring-less fingers. His face burned with embarrassment, while his stomach twisted uncomfortably. "You can't be serious."

"You _do_ look different enough to not be immediately recognized," Strickler mused, looking Jim up and down again. "And Claire's right — a fiancé wouldn't be questioned as harshly. You just got a call that she was here, and you came to support her. You had no idea what was happening with her parents."

"Right," Jim said, uncomfortable with both the idea and the narrative, but knew that it was probably the best solution. Sighing, and shaking his head, he turned back to Strickler. "Okay, fine. I need you to keep an eye out for Anson, though."

"Anson?" Strickler asked, obviously confused again. "Why—?"

"I'll explain," Claire promised, absently rocking the baby in her arms. "But Jim needs to get to Sarah."

It didn't take much effort to play the panicked lover, mostly because he _was_ still slightly panicked — every second wasted was a chance for the enemy to close in. Thankfully, the hospital staff bought the story of him having dropped everything — including his ID — to get to the hospital as fast as he could. And wasn't it just so nice of his sister-in-law to come and pick him up and drive his panicked self to the hospital? After all, she'd just picked her baby up from daycare and had to pass his work on the way home, anyway.

Jim let Claire weave the story, since his emotions tended to be present in his voice, and he wasn't sure he could tell _anyone_ that Claire and Ellie were anything other than his wife and daughter. When the teary eyed nurse had looked at him in sympathy, and he blurted, "Can I see her now?" while fidgeting, that was apparently the correct reaction, and she led him to Sarah's room without further question. Claire and Ellie stayed behind "to give you some privacy," which actually meant that they would be with Strickler, Claire explaining their plan and keeping an eye out for Anson with the Changeling.

Sarah was still unconscious, as Jim had already known, but he was grateful that she wasn't hooked up to anything more unusual than a heart monitor and an IV. If she had been intubated, he didn't know if he could keep his composure as well as he was. She was paler than normal, and her breathing was deep and heavy, but he knew that was because of the medicine she was receiving. He wasn't exactly sure how it all worked (how could giving one medicine negate the effects of another?), but he was grateful for the calm, at least. He didn't know how she would react, to both the remnants of the drugs in her system or to the news about her mother and their father. He had taken her anger with them for granted, thinking that she didn't care for her parents, but he should have known better. No matter how bad the parent, a child will always love them; he knew that from personal experience.

"I'm so sorry, Sarah," Jim whispered, pulling up a plastic chair and seating himself next to her bedside. Gently, he took her hand in both of his — it was so cold and limp in his grasp — and bent to press it to his forehead. "Please… forgive me."

. . .

Several hours passed without incident. Nurses came and went. Jim's mother came in for a second, saw him, burst into tears (which, judging from how red her eyes were, she had already been crying heavily), and then turned back around and rushed out. Claire was allowed to come in, briefly, to check on him, still under the guise of being his sister-in-law. Little Ellie had fallen asleep and was drooling on her mother's shoulder, and though Jim was dying to give his baby a cuddle, he didn't want to risk waking her and making her upset; his mate had confided in him that she had taken back on her clingy habits that she had had when she was first born. No enemy made themselves known, although he didn't expect that they would. Even if they knew of Sarah and planned to use her, her future self has said that the Draknagoth had merged itself within her through various intimate encounters; as she was now, Sarah wasn't in any condition to even masturbate, let alone have sex.

And on that awkward thought, Jim decided that it would probably be best to go back to thinking about other things.

"Are you sure that I can't bring you anything?" the nurse asked him the next time she came in to change out the saline bag on the IV stand. She had come in about three other times during the night, asking him the same thing every time. He would _like_ to say "Sure, could you bring me an extra large garbage burger and a glass of gasoline to wash it down with?" but he was sure that he would be admitted to the psyche ward, if he did that.

"I'm fine, thank you," Jim said, instead, ignoring the nurse's concerned frown as she glanced between him and the still sleeping Sarah.

"You know…" the nurse started, almost hesitantly, brushing her bright red hair back behind her ear. The color was identical to his mother's and to… to his sons'. Jim shook his head slightly against the memory of his twin boys, who wouldn't even exist for another few years. The nurse didn't notice the movement and continued with her thought. "There are… options for her."

"What?" Jim asked, tired and confused. He focused on the nurse more steadily and noticed that she was young, maybe in her mid-twenties. Her name tag read "Hermione." Jim couldn't help but snort a small laugh, and then blushed as the nurse raised an eyebrow at him, clearly having caught his glance and snort. "Er, sorry. I just, um…"

"My mother is a huge _Harry Potter_ fan," Hermione laughed lightly, guessing where his amusement came from. "I have a brother named Ron." She paused again to let Jim laugh again, and then asked, "What's your name?"

Jim sobered, biting his lip and glanced away from the nurse, toward his sister, and then back again. "…Andrew."

"Well, Andrew," Hermione smiled kindly. "It's nice to meet you. Ms. Lake is very lucky to have someone who loves her so much."

Jim tried not to grimace, glancing toward his sister again. He _did_ love her, but not in the way the nurse was implying. The thought made his already upset stomach twist agonizingly. "Yeah…"

"There are options for her," Hermione repeated, moving to the wall and opening a cabinet. She pulled out a handful of pamphlets, and then moved to stand beside him, offering the papers. "Rehabs. And there are programs to help with the costs, if—"

"Thank you," Jim interrupted, shoving the papers back into her hands, maybe more harshly than he should have. "I… I'm sorry, but I… I can't think about that right now. I just want her to wake up."

"Right," Hermione replied, her cheeks reddening in slight embarrassment. She put the papers down on the rolling table that was hovering over the foot of the hospital bed. "I'll leave these here, then, but…" she turned back to him, her expression determined. "Please don't try to take this on by yourself. Recovering from addiction is just as difficult on the family as it is the recovering user. And…" the nurse hesitated, biting her lip anxiously as she glanced between Jim and Sarah again, her eyes glistening with emotion. "…given the situation, she's going to need all the support she can get."

Jim nodded, but couldn't reply, casting his gaze back toward his and Sarah's clasped hands. Hermione seemed to understand that she wouldn't be able to get much more out of him at the moment, so she left him with a reminder to use the call button if he needed anything.

More hours passed, but he remained in the same place, refusing to move or leave. Nurses came and went, one of them bringing him a tray of food, which he ignored. Claire came in again once, with a very fussy Ellie, who had practically demanded Jim's attention by babbling his name over and over until he'd hugged her close, kissing and nuzzling her. Thankfully, no nurses or doctors came in to overhear his daughter's declaration; otherwise, their story would become pretty twisted, and it was already twisted enough. He didn't know how much the medical staff knew about Sarah, other than the drug use, though he would have thought if some disease had come back in her bloodwork, they would have asked him to undergo testing, as well, given that he was playing the part of her lover. Thankfully, it would seem Sarah had been extremely lucky throughout her years of abuse and had not contracted anything.

"Dada…?" Ellie cooed quietly, yanking curiously at the hair on his face, causing him to wince, even as Claire laughed lightly at his expression.

"Yes, baby?" Jim replied, gently extricating her hand from his beard (and dear God, when he'd finally looked at himself in the bathroom mirror and saw that it was a full hipster beard, he'd been mortified) and relocating it to the neckline of his shirt.

"An-Sa," she replied, turning her head to look and point toward her aunt, who was still unconscious. Ellie brought her hand back to her mouth, fingering one of her small, lower fangs anxiously. "An-Sa seep?"

Claire and Jim exchanged a look of pride and worry over their daughter's quickly growing vocabulary… and her understanding. Jim wondered if she'd simply been cataloguing all the words she'd learned in her first six months of life until she felt that what she had to say would be taken seriously. They knew her understanding of her small world had already been there, her intelligence made known since she was only a few weeks old. She'd picked up sign language within hours of starting to teach her the gestures, and had understood what they said when they addressed her. Jim remembered the great responsibility his daughter's older self had held herself to when looking after her younger siblings, her strategic nature, and her ability to keep mostly calm in the face of danger.

"My brave, little Trollhunter," Claire cooed, reaching over to gently caress Ellie's cheek. "You'll be such a good big sister."

Ellie cocked her head to the side in confusion at her mother's words, and then shook her head, looking back up Jim. "An-Sa seep?"

"Yes," Jim replied, his voice gruff in emotion. He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "Aunt Sarah's sleeping."

"Why?" Ellie asked, looking back to her aunt again, her expression concerned.

Jim and Claire shared another wide eyed look, and Jim hesitated slightly as he tried to think of how to explain. "She… doesn't feel good. She's sick."

"S… s…ick?" Ellie repeated, sounding out the unfamiliar word.

"She'll wake up soon, Pumpkin," Claire promised, petting the baby's head and adjusting her cap at the same time. They laughed when Ellie grumbled, trying to swat Claire's hand away and pull the cap off. "You have to keep it on, El."

"No," Ellie growled defiantly, and Jim frowned and gave her a stern look.

"Eleanor Juliet," he said, and the baby pouted as she let go of the cap and let Claire adjust it, letting out a little growl from the back of her throat.

"Already got an attitude, huh?"

"An-Sa!" Ellie screeched excitedly as they all jumped at the tired and hoarse voice that had broken through their family moment. Looking up, Sarah was still lying on the hospital bed, her head turned in their direction as she gazed tiredly at them, a small smile on her face. "An-Sa! An-Sa!"

"Is that me?" Sarah croaked, laughing lightly. "Am I 'An-Sa'?"

"An-Sa," Ellie said again, her voice firm as she nodded.

"Going for the hipster look today, bro?" Sarah asked in a hoarse voice after chuckling at her niece's answer. "You look more like yourself, though."

"It's complicated," Jim grunted, his stomach twisting with nerves, relief, and fearful anticipation. "But it's a more refined type of glamour charm. And, uh… call me Andrew, in front of everyone else."

"Andrew?" Sarah asked, giving him a confused look. "Isn't that your middle name?"

"Yes, but I'm…" Jim started, and then looked to Claire helplessly, and she gave him a sympathetic smile.

" _Andrew_ is your fiancé, remember?" Claire said to Sarah in a pointed voice, gesturing with her head for Sarah to look around them. She did, her eyes — which were becoming more alert with every passing second — darting around the room, first in curiosity, and then in panic.

"Wh-where…? Am I in the hospital?"

"Shh…" Jim shushed her, passing Ellie back to Claire to reach for his sister's hand again, clasping it tightly in both of his and rubbing her knuckles with his thumb. "Yes, but I'm not going to let anything happen to you. It's okay. You're safe."

"I…" Sarah started, the beeping of her heart monitor picking up in speed, and her breathing becoming quick and shallow. "No, I… I was home. I was—"

"Sarah, breathe," Jim said calmly, remembering how the future Aiden had helped him through his own panic attack, and breathed deeply, encouraging Sarah to match him until she calmed again. "It's okay. Yes, you were home. Dad called us."

"Dad?" Sarah asked, glancing around the room again, as if the man in question were there and she had just missed him. Jim cringed, his gut twisting nauseatingly at the slightly hopeful look on her face. "Where is he? Why am I here?"

"You overdosed," Jim said, squeezing her hand lightly between his, deciding to mostly ignore her first question for the time being. "He thought you were having seizures. You're lucky my mom was with us, and she knew what to do."

"Overdosed?" Sarah questioned, her eyes becoming unfocused as she tried to think back. Her cheeks turned red as she must have remembered, and she groaned and ripped her hand from Jim's, tugging the blanket over her head. "Oh, my God, please tell me that you didn't see me—"

"No," Jim promised, too afraid and angry at the reminder of why she had been under such heavy drug influence to even laugh at her embarrassment. "Mom would know how to explain it better, but it wasn't the overdose itself that you were reacting to, but the comedown. She said it was an extreme withdrawal."

"Ugh, I'm so embarrassed," Sarah mumbled beneath her blanket, her fingertips the only thing visible as she clenched the material in her grip.

" _Embarrassed_?" Jim growled, only lowering his voice when Claire placed a soft, reminding hand on his shoulder. He sighed, reaching forward to tug the blanket away from her face and tucking it back around her torso. "You could have died, Sare."

Sarah watched his tender movements sadly, her blush receding slowly, and then she rolled her head to the other direction, away from them. "…sometimes, I wonder if that wouldn't be for the best."

" _Don't say that_!" Jim snapped, standing to his feet abruptly and grabbing his sister by the shoulders, shaking her roughly as his vision blurred with tears, and his voice cracked with emotion. "Don't you _ever_ say that! I-I can't l-lose you too! I can't…"

Jim broke down, falling to his knees, and sobbed into his sister's side, ignoring both her's, his wife's, and his daughter's voices as they gasped and called to him. He scrambled desperately for Sarah's hand again, and she offered it, gripping his fingers between hers just as tightly in response.

"Lose me…?" Sarah whispered, reaching across with her other hand to gently run her fingers over Jim's head and the back of his neck. Her fingers were cold and trembling, the touch light as she was limited by how for the IV in her arm would allow her to stretch. "What are you talking about?"

"I…" Jim sobbed, forcing the words out passed his re-breaking heart, his whole body trembling. He could feel his mate rubbing his lower back soothingly, offering her silent support, but knowing that he was the one that needed to tell his sister the truth. "Dad… he - he and your mom… I'm so sorry!"

Sarah's finger's stilled their movements over his head, though she still trembled slightly with weakness, and Jim looked up, meeting her wide eyes with his own. "…what are you talking about? Wh-what about them? The - the police came?"

"No," Jim croaked, lifting her hand to his mouth and pressing a hard kiss to the back of her hand. "I… I didn't know… If I had _any_ idea that he was going to—" he broke off with another sob, and even though he could tell by Sarah's expression and the gasping hitch of her breath that she had guessed what he was trying to say, he knew that he still had to confirm her suspicions aloud. "I'm so sorry, Sarah… they're — they're gone."

A low keening sound rose quietly in the back of Sarah's throat, something between a cry and a scream, and Jim tightened his hand around his sister's again. Another sob broke from his chest when Ellie asked quietly, "who go?"

Sarah gasped in a huge breath, and then another, and another. Just before she started wailing in despair, Jim pulled himself up to sit on the bed and hugged his sister to his chest. She clutched to him desperately, screaming and sobbing into his chest, the sound only barely muffled. The sounds of rushing feet came frantically up the hall from outside of the room, and then the door crashed open and a few nurses, a police officer, and a doctor rushed in.

"Step away from her," the police officer demanded, glaring at Jim, one hand braced on the gun at his hip.

"No!" Sarah cried, hugging Jim tighter when he loosened his hold in order to comply with the cop's demand. The pressure on his chest caused him to gasp slightly in pain, but his sister refused to let him move away. "I… I'm sorry. I didn't m-mean to sc-scare everyone. An-Andrew… let me know about m-my pa-p-par-parents."

Jim hugged her to himself, burying his face into her hair as she broke down into tears again.

"You! You're not supposed to be in here!" the police officer barked, and Jim almost ripped himself from Sarah's arms when Claire gave an indignant sputter and Ellie cried out in surprise. He looked up to see the police officer grab his mate by her upper arm and yank her up from her chair, barely managing to catch the wobbling and squirming baby on her hip before the child tumbled to the floor with the rough movements. Before Jim could go to his mate's defense, Ellie growled loudly, bearing her tiny fangs at the man grabbing her mother, and then lunged forward to sink her teeth into the top of his hand. "Ow! What the—"

"Ellie, no!" Claire gasped, yanking herself and the baby back a couple of steps as the man let go of them, shaking and clutching his heavily bleeding hand.

"That fucking little monster bit me!" the cop exclaimed in pained shock. One of the nurses and the doctor rushed forward to examine and treat the wound, but the officer pushed passed them, fury on his face as he unhooked the taser on his best.

"You stay away from us!" Claire warned in a high voice, her eyes beginning to darken with the swirling of black magic. In Jim's arms, Sarah gasped in fear, stunned beyond her grief at the sudden turn of events.

"Grrr…" Ellie growled and snarled, and then — the cop ignoring both Claire's and Ellie's warnings, the magic swirling around them all, as well as Jim's own harsh snarl as he made to lunge at the man — everything came to a soundless and sudden halt.

 _To be continued..._

✧ ✩ _**PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!**_ ✩ ✧


	44. Chapter Forty-Four

⁂ _Hello, my loves! To the person who "kindly" told me that I was going to miss another month (what am I, pregnant?), it's leap year. I accounted for the extra day. Plus, I wanted to give you all a longer chapter. Enjoy, my loves!_

 **Chapter Forty-Four**

No, literally. Everything just… stopped.

The doctor, nurses, and the police officer were all frozen in place, stopped mid-movement. Even the active spark at the end of the cop's taser was stuck halfway through its arc. Sarah's heart monitor — which had been beeping erratically in the background — went completely silent. Every breath Jim took seemed to echo in the still room, through the still air.

But that wasn't the only sound in the sudden silence. Ellie's little growl was still emanating from her throat as she continued to snarl at the now frozen officer. For a moment, Jim thought Claire was frozen too, but then she sucked in a huge gasp and turned wide eyes onto the angry baby in her arms.

"El…"

"She stopped Time," Jim guessed, his heart pounding at the unnerving silence and stillness. Turning back around, he found that his sister _was_ actually stopped, as well, her wet and red eyes wide and staring, her mouth hanging open and her arm outstretched toward where his back had been turned to her.

"Ellie," Claire spoke in a soft, but firm voice. "Baby, you have to stop your magic."

"No!"

"Eleanor Juliet Lake," Claire started, her voice and expression stern, but Jim stopped her.

"No, wait," he said, stepping forward and scooping his grumbly daughter out of her mother's arms. Claire let her go, looking up at Jim curiously. Silently, he nodded his head toward the frozen Sarah, tucking Ellie against his hip and raising is hand to wipe the blood from her mouth. "Pumpkin, Daddy needs you to make Aunt Sarah move. _Just_ Aunt Sarah — no one else. Can you do that?"

Ellie stopped growling, cocking her head to the side a little, glancing between him and her aunt. After a moment, she lifted her hand and reached forward, trying to touch Sarah's frozen figure. "An-Sa."

Jim stepped forward, bringing the baby closer to his sister, and Ellie gently grabbed one of Sarah's fingers on her outstretched hand. Immediately, Sarah lurched forward, brought back into her own flow of Time, and then she gasped, jumping in fright when she saw that he and Ellie had — to her own perception — disappeared from where they had been and reappeared directly in front of her.

"Wha—?" she started, her eyes darting around frantically and her breathing becoming panicky. "How did you—?"

"It's okay," Claire soothed, rushing forward to pull Sarah's upper body into a light hug. "This… this is Ellie's magic. She can manipulate Time, but… this is the first time she's ever done it consciously."

"She… stopped Time?" Sarah asked in a breathless voice, leaning into Claire's hug, all the while carefully taking in the unnatural stillness around them. "But… we're moving."

" _You_ weren't," Jim said, glancing pointedly to where Ellie was now gently chewing on Sarah's finger, which she still had hold of. "She stopped everything, but herself, Claire, and me. I had to convince her to wake you."

"But I don't think she'll be able to maintain this for long," Claire added in a worried tone, gently pushing Sarah back and grabbing her other hand, carefully working on removing the IV line. "She'll get tired. We have to get out of here."

As if on cue, Ellie let out a huge yawn, showing off her still bloody baby teeth. The air seemed to shimmer around them, and Sarah's heart monitor beeped out a single pulse, the line across the screen jumping once, and then froze again.

"No, no, no, no, no," Jim murmured frantically, bouncing Ellie in his arms with just enough force to annoy her awake. She let out a little growl, glaring up at him petulantly. "You have to stay awake, baby. Stay awake, okay? Just for a little bit."

"Can you stand?" Claire asked Sarah urgently as she freed her from the IV and then threw the blankets back to reveal Sarah's bare legs, her loose hospital gown ridden halfway up her thighs. Claire took hold of Sarah's ankles, pulling her legs over the side of the bed.

"I… I don't know," Sarah replied, her voice shaky and thick, like she was on the verge of tears again. She pushed herself forward, her feet hitting the floor, but when she went to hold her own weight, she crumpled to the floor weakly, her legs splayed out underneath her like a newborn giraffe.

"Here, take El," Jim said to his mate, passing the baby into her arms. Ellie fussed and grumbled at being transferred, but at least it woke her up a little more. Once his baby was safely in her mother's arms, Jim bent down and scooped Sarah up into his arms, carefully keeping her gown closed in the back by trapping the loose fabric with his arm. "C'mon, let's find Mom and Pops and get back home as fast as we can."

"I'm sorry," Sarah whispered in a hoarse voice, wrapping her arms around Jim's shoulders and tucking her face into his neck. "I'm so sorry."

"None of this is your fault, Sare," Jim assured her, silently following his wife from the room, while trying to manipulate his way around the door, walls, objects, and people without bumping into any of them. He didn't know if any of their touches would be enough to bring anything or anyone out of the stopped flow of Time, or if only Ellie could manipulate the flow, but he did not want to risk it. "If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. I've dragged you into such an insane life."

Sarah gave a watery snort into Jim's neck, her arms tightening around his shoulders as she let out a small, hiccuping sob. "Like it wasn't crazy to begin with. Wha… what's gonna happen now?"

"That depends on what you want," Jim murmured back, turning his head slightly to nuzzle her cheek. At the same time, he accidentally bumped her feet against the arm of a nurse that they were passing and froze in fear for a second. When nothing happened, he relaxed and kept walking, whispering comfortingly to his sister. "We have a plan, but I won't tell you what to do. It's entirely up to you."

"But… Mom and Dad…" Sarah whimpered. "I… I have to… there's so much to do."

"I…" Jim started, his throat tight in emotion. "I don't know how safe that will be… now."

"I can't leave them alone," she cried softly, her whole body trembling in his arms.

Jim tightened his hold on Sarah, his eyesight blurring with more tears. "There's no-nothing we can do. They're gone."

Sarah shook her head, her face still pressed hard into his neck, and all he could do was hug her tighter and apologize again and again under his breath. After another minute of following behind his wife and trying vainly to comfort his distraught sister, they turned a corner, and then jumped back in surprise as they saw several people in military garb frozen mid-march up the middle of the hall — and at their lead, a hostile and determined sneer on her face, was Krubitz.

"Oh, God," Claire gasped, clutching Ellie to her protectively, despite the enemies in front of them being stopped in Time and unable to react to their presence. "I should have killed that bitch when I had the chance."

"Wh-wha…? Who i-is she?" Sarah hiccuped, lifting her head slightly to reveal her teary eyes and snotty nose. Jim resisted the urge to lick her face clean, like he would have his daughter, knowing that his sister definitely _would not_ appreciate the action.

"Someone we don't want to find us," Jim growled, irritated and stressed. In Claire's arms, Ellie whined, sensing her parents' nervousness. " _How_ could she have gotten here so fast?!"

"It doesn't matter," Claire replied, shaking her head as she turned, shifting Ellie to her hip and grabbing Sarah's dangling, bare feet with her other hand to help guide them past the soldiers. "We just need to get home, and we'll be safe."

"Seep," Ellie whined, sticking her thumb in her mouth and sniffling tearfully.

"I know, baby," Claire cooed, letting go of Sarah as soon as they were clear of the soldiers and shifting the baby back into both arms to cuddle and nuzzle comfortingly. "I know. Just wait a little longer, okay?"

"There's Mom and Pops!" Jim gasped in relief as they came upon the visitor's waiting room and saw the frozen forms of Barbara and Strickler. They seemed to be in deep conversation with another man, who looked to be in his mid-twenties. He was tall, lean, and slightly muscular, standing at least half a head taller than even Strickler, with shaggy blonde hair that fell down to his shoulders. He was wearing a plain, white t-shirt with an unbuttoned red-plaid, long-sleeved shirt on top. Basic, warn work jeans and regular, tan work boots accompanied the rugged look. If you threw a guitar in his arms, he might pass as a Kurt Cobain impersonator.

…which was apparently not lost on Claire, as Jim felt her spike of attraction, and then embarrassment. He couldn't help but laugh, to which she threw a harsh glare at him, her face red. "I think that's Anson."

"Don't you _dare_ tell him," Claire warned, her face becoming redder and Jim laughed again.

"Wh-who is Anson?" Sarah sniffled, looking at the man in confusion, but also with a slight blush. "And is that old g-guy your step dad?"

"Anson is a friend," Jim assured his sister. "And, yeah, Strickler is my step dad. Well, he would be, if he could get the nerve up to ask Mom to marry him. But Blinky — you haven't met him — is more of a dad to me than anyone else."

"Wake Grandma and Papa up, El," Claire urged the tired and grumpy baby gently. She stepped closer to Barbara, letting Ellie reach out to press her tiny palm to the woman's shoulder. Immediately, she came back to life, continuing to speak as if she had never been stopped.

"…is an _insane_ plane, and I can't let you— oh, Jesus!" Barbara jumped back as she became aware of her surroundings and the fact that they had all just seemingly popped up out of nowhere in front of her. "What the— how did you—"

"Can't explain now," Claire interrupted, moving over to Strickler and encouraging the baby to wake him too.

"—can't expect her to abandon everything she knows to— Deya's grace!" Strickler gasped, startled and jumping in the same manner as his girlfriend, and Jim realized that it wasn't so much an in depth conversation they were having, so much as a three-way argument. Apparently, Barbara and Strickler did not agree with the plan that he and Claire had conjured with Anson. "How did you—?"

"We'll explain later, but we have to get out of here _now_ ," Jim interjected, nodding his head in the blonde man's direction. "Is that Anson?"

"Yes, but—" Barbara started, rushing forward to futilely try and pull Sarah from his arms. "Jim, you _cannot_ take her from the hospital! She needs—"

"Krubitz is up the hall with a horde of soldiers," Jim replied in a hard voice, stepping back and tightening his hold on Sarah. Claire had Ellie wake Anson and was now quietly and quickly explaining a basic run down of the current situation to him and the intently listening Strickler. Jim saw the defiant look on his mother's face, however, and knew that another fight was on the way. "Ellie can't keep Time still for much longer — it's too draining on her. We have to go."

"No!" Barbara insisted, her face red and her hands clenched at her side. "As a medical professional, I cannot allow Sarah to leave the hospital. She is still under treatment! She's still—"

"Then I suggest you raid the pharmacy while Time is still stopped and get whatever you think she'll need," Jim said, leaving no room for argument. His mother looked up at him in completely shock, and even Sarah tightened her arms around his neck, whispering his name worriedly. "Well?"

"You're not _serious_?!" Barbara replied, her voice hoarse with shock. "You can't—"

"I _can_ , and I _will_ ," Jim insisted, drawing himself tall and glaring his mother down, silently daring her to continue arguing. Barbara — being Barbara, of course — took a deep breath to steady herself, but glared just as fiercely back at him.

"James Andrew Lake," she started in a deadly quiet voice, but she didn't get the chance to say anything else before Ellie let out another wide yawn, and the air shimmered around them again. The TV bolted on the wall flickered, the sports announcer on screen reading off the football score before freezing in place again.

"Barb, _please_ ," Claire begged, bouncing Ellie in her arms to try and wake her up a bit more. The baby just whined, her eyes brimming with frustrated tears.

"I…" Barbara's voice faltered as she tried to respond, her defiant expression crumpling. After a few seconds, she swallowed thickly and cast her eyes down. "Okay. Give me a few minutes."

"Hurry," Jim said, allowing his voice to soften. His mother nodded, and then rushed from the room and down the hall.

An awkward silence ensued, which was lifted only slightly when Anson stepped forward with a strained, but kind smile directed toward Sarah. "Hello, Ms. Lake. My name is Anson."

"Hi," Sarah replied in a quiet voice, tightening her arms around Jim's shoulders and neck again. "You can call me Sarah."

He nodded, tilting his head slightly to try and catch her gaze. "Thank you, Sarah. Has your brother explained to you who I am, and why I am here?"

Jim shook his head, even as Sarah murmured a quiet _no_ in response. Continuing, Jim added, "I didn't really have time. She only just woke up, and then everything kind of went crazy."

"I see," Anson hummed thoughtfully to himself. He glanced briefly to the hall, and then toward Ellie, who was fussing and yawning, despite Claire's best efforts at keeping the baby awake. Looking back toward Sarah with his kind smile again, Anson explained softly, "I understand that you're going through a lot right now, but your brother and sister-in-law asked me to come, because I may be able to help, at least in part."

"Are you a psychiatrist or something?" Sarah sniffled, her voice slightly accusatory.

"Not at all," Anson replied in a reassuring voice. "I am… well, I'm a lot like your brother."

"…you're a troll too?" Sarah guessed, peeking up at Anson, curious despite herself.

"A Changeling, yes," he replied, nodding. "Of the same breed as Jim."

"There's different breeds?" she blurted, and then blushed, hiding her face in Jim's neck again.

Everyone laughed a little, the tension in the room easing, and Anson reached forward to gently brush Sarah's hair back behind her ear. "Yes. We are of the Huldufólk. I can tell you more later, if you'd like?"

Blushing, Sarah nodded. "Okay. I'd… I'd like that."

Jim glanced toward his wife, a barely contained smile pulling at the corner of his lips as he caught her amusement. Strickler had taken hold of Ellie and was bouncing her in his arms and talking to her to keep her awake. _They like each other_ , Claire mouthed back to Jim, and he bit his lip against another laugh. Thankfully, Anson and Sarah seemed too absorbed in each other to notice the exchange.

"Okay, I have everything," Barbara panted, rushing back into the room with a large duffle bag slung over her shoulder, breaking the slight silence before it could become awkward. "But I want you to know that I _do not_ approve of this."

"Of course you don't," Jim sighed under his breath, rolling his eyes.

"Jim—" Barbara started again, her blues flaring in temper, but Claire interrupted, her voice and expression becoming urgent as she took Ellie back from Strickler.

"There's no time," she said hurriedly, lifting a hand to grasp the transportation charm dangling on the thin chain around her neck. "As soon as we transport back home, I think Ellie's hold will break, even if she manages to stay awake."

"Seep," Ellie insisted once more, and everyone laughed at the petulant, little voice.

"Okay, everyone grab onto each other," Claire continued in a quick voice, and everyone grabbed hold of each other's hands, or gripped shoulders. Anson had gone to grasp Jim's shoulder, but Sarah released one of her hands from around Jim's neck and caught the man's hand in hers. He blinked, surprised, and then his cheeks turned red. He did not, however, release her hand.

In a flash of blue light, the hospital disappeared from around them, and when it cleared again, they were all standing — with the exception of Sarah, who was still in Jim's arms — in the kitchen area of Jim's and Claire's cave.

"Deya above!" Toby gasped, jumping back and dropping the small, canvas sack full of salty niblets that he'd been munching out of. "Warn a guy next time!"

"You really _must_ teach us this magic of yours!" Krel's voice rang out, and they all jumped and turned to see the boy in his glowing alien form, a bowl of cereal held in one hand, a dripping spoon halfway to his mouth. "It is the most fascinating!"

"What is _that_?" Anson gasped, eyes wide as he stepped back in shock after Sarah had released his hand.

"Excuse _you_!" Krel replied, waving his spoon around indignantly and flinging orange juice (was he seriously eating cereal mixed with orange juice?) everywhere. "I am King in Waiting of Akiridion-5!"

"Oh," Anson said faintly, furrowing his brow in confusion. "I… I'm sorry, but I don't know that pack."

"Pack?" Krel repeated, his expression becoming just as confused as Anson's.

"Krel is from another planet," Jim explained quickly. "He and his sister and a few other family and friends are visiting for a while."

"Another _planet_?" Anson gasped, his eyes darting back and forth between the alien (sorry, interplanetary being) and Jim.

"Yup, it's crazy town banana pants," Toby interjected, nodding seriously, and then he slapped a friendly hand on Anson's shoulder. "Just go with it, my friend. By the way, who're you?"

"Er… I am Anson," Anson replied, still looking more than a little stunned.

"Oh!" Toby exclaimed, snapping his fingers in remembrance. "You're that Changeling dude that works undercover, right?"

Anson turned to Jim with an upturned eyebrow and a glare, and Jim shrugged, laughing weakly. "Anson, this is Toby. He's my best friend."

"Clearly," Anson replied, sighing in resignation and rolling his eyes.

"I need to get an IV back in Sarah," Barbara interrupted, un-shouldering her duffle bag. "Can you put her on the couch?"

"Yeah," Jim agreed, maneuvering his way around the various people gathered in his kitchen, only to find more people gathered in his living room. Nana was seated on one side of the couch, her head thrown back and snoring loudly, the corner of her mouth glistening with a little bit of drool. On the other side of the couch, Steve and Aja were a mix of human and glowing blue limbs, wet sucking sounds coming from their connected mouths. "Come on, guys. Don't you have any decency? Go make out in the pub or something."

"That's a public place," Steve grunted, he and Aja breaking apart with a laugh. Strickler cleared his throat from behind Jim, and Barbara raised an eyebrow at the teens. Steve proceeded to turn bright red, while Aja's bioluminescent glow brightened enough to cause everyone to cringe back from the brightness. "Er, sorry."

"Darci would not let us do the making of the out in the infant's room, even though the infant was not there!" Aja replied, her voice incredulous and slightly accusing.

Darci, calmly seated on the floor with her back against the wall, and reading from the thick book of Shakespeare's plays that Claire kept on the shelf, spoke clearly, without looking up. "You're damned straight I wouldn't. Poor kid doesn't need her room defiled by you two making your own kids."

"Oh, that could not happen without some of your Merlin's blood magic," Krel interjected in a helpful voice. "We do not reproduce the same way humans do, remember?"

"Er… yeah, let's not talk about this, okay?" Steve said in a high-pitched, embarrassed voice, his face extremely red.

"Besides, we are not even bound by either human _or_ Akiridion laws yet," Aja said, waving her hand dismissively. "As Queen in Waiting, Steve would have to pass the 5 Trials of Elbane."

"The what?" Steve asked, some of his red receding and giving his girlfriend a confused look.

"Discuss your love life later, please," Claire said, absently rocking the now fast asleep Ellie in her arms. "And get off the couch. Sarah needs it."

"Who're you?" Steve asked bluntly, cocking his head to the side to eye Sarah curiously. "You look familiar."

"I've never met you," Sarah replied in a subdued voice as Steve and Aja vacated their space on the couch, and Jim set his sister down carefully. When he stepped back, Barbara took his spot, already preparing several syringes. Beside her, Strickler pulled out a collapsable IV pole and went about setting it up, also pulling out a saline bag and some tubing.

"You sure?" Steve prodded, leaning over to peer at Sarah's face, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "You _really_ look familiar."

"Sarah is my sister," Jim said, and Steve's mouth dropped open in shock.

"Woah, I didn't know you had a daughter, too, Mrs. L!" Steve exclaimed.

An awkward silence filled the room before Barbara replied in a tense voice, "I don't."

"…oh." Another beat of awkward silence followed, before Steve relaxed and laughed, rubbing the back of his head with his hand. "Well, that's kind of a relief! I thought you might have been an ex-girlfriend."

"Your name is Steve?" Sarah asked, a hard glare directed at the oblivious oaf.

"Yup," Steve replied, grinning in a friendly manner, and holding out his hand to presumably shake Sarah's. "Steve Palchuk, quarterback at Arcadia Oaks High and all around fantastic guy, at your ser—"

"Steve?" Sarah interrupted, ignoring the boy's outstretched hand.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up, before I slit your fucking throat."

"Oh, er…" Steve jerked, his red face paling to almost gray. "Yeah, sure."

"Steve," Jim whispered, turning so that his back was to his sister. The former bully looked at him, still pale in shock, and Jim reached out to grasp his shoulder gently, continuing in an even quieter whisper. "She's just found out about our dad and her mom."

"Oh," Steve breathed in realization, some of his color coming back. Jim was a little surprised to see the boy's brown eyes start to glisten a little, and then he nodded, his expression serious. "I'm sorry."

"Give her some time," Jim replied, smiling slightly in thanks. Steve really was an okay guy beneath the arrogance and narcissism.

"I'm going to lay Ellie down in our room," Claire interjected, stepping forward. "She's exhausted."

"You get some sleep, too," Jim said, leaning down to press a kiss to his mate's forehead, gently brushing his fingers through Ellie's downy hair.

Claire looked defiant for a moment, like she would argue, but then her shoulders slumped, and her expression relaxed. "Yeah, okay. I _am_ tired." She gave a short laugh, shaking her head. "I don't even know what time it is."

"Almost noon," Toby said through a mouthful of salty niblets ( _Deya, is he eating the same ones that fell on the floor?!_ ). "Way past your normal bedtimes."

"You sleep during the day?" Krel asked, cocking his head to the side curiously. "How odd."

"Trolls can't go out in the day," Jim explained, shooting Krel an amused smile after kissing Claire again and watching her disappear passed the curtain that partitioned off their bedroom. "The sunlight will burn us and turn us to stone. I don't react exactly the same, given that I'm only a half-troll, but I still can't endure daylight without the protection of my Glamour charm." He held up his wrist to show off the new bracelet, decorated with small bits of Heartstone and magic gems. "And I've only just gotten that. So, when I first became a half-troll, and we were in the process of moving across country with all the other trolls, we just switched our sleeping patterns. In the caves, it's easy to become disoriented with time, though, because any light down here is either artificial or magical."

"But you always met me during the day or evening," Sarah's voice said tiredly, and Jim turned back to see that his sister seemed more relaxed, her feet curled up underneath her on the couch, while Barbara fed the IV into the back of her outstretched hand. "Did I take away your resting time? Didn't the sun hurt you?"

"No," Jim shook his head, smiling reassuringly in response. "I don't need as much sleep as a human. And if you think about it, when I met you during the day, it was either always overcast, or we were already indoors."

"But Claire…" Sarah started, glancing worriedly in the direction of the bedroom and cringing a little as Barbara injected a medicine that must have burned into the small port on the IV tube.

Jim hesitated, not quite sure what to say or how to respond, but he knew that he needed to be honest with his sister. "Yes. You probably just thought her tiredness was because of Ellie, and that's part of it, but… she doesn't get enough sleep as she needs."

"I…" Sarah started, but then her eyes started to droop and her head bobbed down a little. "I… m'sorry…"

"Let her sleep," Barbara said in a quiet voice as Sarah slumped forward as the medicine that she'd been injected with must have had a sedative quality to it. Jim's mother caught her and helped her lie back against the couch, tucking a small throw pillow behind her head to support her neck. "She's not even partway through the detox. She'll be awake for the worst of it."

Jim flinched, definitely not looking forward to that, but knowing that there was no avoiding it. He opened his mouth to say something, but then finally took notice of all the people present… and the three who were not. "Where are Eli, AAARRRGGHH!, and Zadra?"

"Eli went to speak with the Elders," Toby said, shaking his head calmly when Jim nearly choked in alarm. "It's okay. AAARRRGGHH! went with him, and so did Zadra."

"Zadra?" Jim questioned, frowning in concern. The image of the alien warrior woman losing her temper and scything all the Elders into dust jumped unbidden to his mind, and his heart started pounding. "Why—"

"We have met Kubritz before and know much about her and her facility," Krel explained, moving to stand by his sister and taking one of her many hand in his anxiously. Again, Jim was reminded of how young Krel actually was, despite his intelligence. "We wanted to go with them, but Zadra would not allow it. We told her what we knew, and she promised to explain on our behalf."

"And Blinky said it would be okay," Toby assured Jim, offering up the bag of salty niblets to the people in the room. Unsurprisingly, no one partook of the offer, and Toby shrugged, digging back into the bag for himself. "He's been talking with the other Elders, and he said that he doesn't think Eli will get in much trouble. Between all of us, we can head off any disasters."

Jim thought that was a bit optimistic, but that was why he loved his best friend so much. Toby could see the silver lining in almost anything.

"You might as well go get some sleep while you can," Barbara said, coming back from the nursery, where she had found an extra blanket, and laying it gently over Sarah's prone form. The nursery wasn't really finished yet, as Jim had only just started carving it out a couple of months prior, so they were keeping extra bedding and stuff in there now; however, Ellie was starting to get a bit big for her bassinet, and she would definitely need to get used to sleeping in her own room now that Aiden was on the way.

The intricacies of that thought gave Jim the beginnings of a headache, though, so he merely nodded, but then turned back toward Anson. "I'm sorry… do you mind sticking around for a while?"

"I knew this wouldn't be easy," Anson replied, nodding and offering an easy smile. "I'm nothing, if not patient."

"And we'll be discussing this _plan_ of yours later," Barbara added with a harsh glare at her son, but Jim was too emotionally exhausted to argue.

"I would be happy to speak to you more about it, if it makes you feel better," Anson said in a sincere voice, putting on a charming smile that caused Barbara's cheeks to turn pink, much to Jim's amusement.

Strickler, however, did not find it as funny, if the jealousy in his tone of voice was any indication. "Anson, you can take your Glamour Mask off now. You're safe here."

Anson's lips pursed against an amused smile, no doubt catching the stiff, grudging tone of jealousy as well. With a sly wink in Jim's direction, Anson lifted his hand to his face, and with a flash of green light, he was in his normal, troll form again, the Glamour Mask held in his hand. His clothes were the same, only bigger to fit his bigger frame, though his transformation was a true Glamour, while Jim's transformation was a lot more physical.

"You look like Jim!" Darci exclaimed, her eyes widening as she glanced between Jim and Anson, even though Jim was still transformed into a human. "I mean, you look a lot like Jim normally does."

Jim almost laughed in a combination of amusement and affection for Darci. Despite how much time had passed, and despite the fact that he had long ago accepted the choices that he had made, it still took him by pleasant surprise when one of his friends referred to his current state of being as "normal."

"Yes," Anson said, stretching his arms over his head, his back cracking as he twisted from side to side, his tail swishing freely behind him. "We're the same species of Troll."

"Hulders, right?" Toby asked, seemingly un-phased by the Anson's appearance, despite never having seen it before.

Anson laughed, his cheeks purpling a little in embarrassment. He rubbed the back of his head, fluffing up his blonde hair, and then he tugged on one of his ram's horns anxiously. "Hulders are female. I'm pretty sure there's none left. Well…" he shrugged, giving Jim a meaningful glance. "There's Ellie, of course, but she's mostly human."

"What about…"

Jim, tired and not really wanting to sit through a conversation that he'd been a part of one too many times, slipped away into the comforting familiarity of his bedroom, in his home, with his wife and babies all safe…

…at least, for now.

 _To be continued..._

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